Office of the Historian

81. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Libya1

Washington, February 13, 1977, 0237Z

32744. Subject: Protest to Libya Over Navy Aircraft Incident.2 Ref: Tripoli 196.3

1. Department not repeat not prepared to allow Libyan assertion of prohibited zone over international waters to go unchallenged. Accordingly, Embassy is instructed to deliver following note to MFA.

2. Begin text: The Embassy of the United States of America refers to the Ministry’s note of February 7, 1977, concerning the encounter between a United States military aircraft and Libyan Air Force planes on January 27.4

3. The U.S. aircraft at no time approached closer than 53 nautical miles from the Libyan coast and at the time it was intercepted by the Libyan planes was 75 nautical miles off Libyan shores. The U.S. considers that the American aircraft in question was exercising the freedom to fly over the high seas in accordance with international law. The United States does not consider that any nation may validly purport to subject any part of the high seas, or the airspace over the high seas, to its sovereignty, nor to establish prohibited areas of the kind referred to in the Ministry’s note. Moreover, the US considers that the aircraft of the Libyan Air Force that flew dangerously close to the American aircraft failed to pay reasonable regard to the interests of all states in the exercise of the freedom of the high seas, in accordance with international law.5

Vance
  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Middle East, Subject File, Box 61, Libya: 2/77–12/78. Limited Official Use. Drafted by Weislogel; cleared by Atherton and in EB/AVP, L/PM, PM/ISO, INR/DDC, and L/EB; approved by Habib.↩
  2. An unknown hand underlined the subject line.↩
  3. In telegram 196 from Tripoli, February 9, the Embassy wrote: “Our most recent information from Libyan civilian aviation (pouched NEA/AFN) indicates that LARG has established two danger areas and two restricted areas within the sea area of the Tripoli FIR. Incident occurred outside these areas. We not aware that LARG claims control over any other areas off Tripoli. Please advise whether we should pursue matter of restricted air space off Tripoli.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D770046–0510)↩
  4. See footnote 2, Document 79.↩
  5. An unknown hand highlighted the first three sentences of this paragraph.↩