French military administration in Fezzan

The Military Territory of Fezzan-Ghadames was a territory in the southern part of the former Italian colony of Libya controlled by the French from 1943 until Libyan independence in 1951. It was part of the Allied administration of Libya.

Military Territory of Fezzan-Ghadames Territoire militaire du Fezzan-Ghadamès (in French) إقليم العسكرية من فزان-غدامس (in Arabic)
1943-1951
Flag
Map of Libya during World War II, showing Fezzan
Status	French Military Administration (1943-1950) French civil administration (1950-1951)
Capital	Sabha
Common languages	Italian, French, Arabic
Government	Military Administration
Governor
• 1943	Raymond Delange
• 1943-1945	Robert Thiriet
• 1946–1947	Pierre Florimond
• 1947–1949	Maurice Sarazac
• 1949–1950 (acting)	Jacques Leneveu
• 1950–1951	Maurice Sarazac[lower-alpha 1]
• 1951–1953	Auguste Cauneille[lower-alpha 2]
Hakim
• 1946–1950	Ahmad Sayf an-Nasr
Historical era	Cold War
• Free French occupation	12 January 1943
• Established	11 April 1943
• Italy relinquishes Libya	10 February 1947
• UN administration	10 December 1949
• Joined Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to form the Kingdom of Libya (with autonomy)	24 December 1951
• Autonomy ended	27 April 1963
Currency	Algerian franc[1]
Preceded by Succeeded by Italian Libya Kingdom of Libya
Today part of	Libya

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Free French forces from French Chad occupied the area that was the former Italian Southern Military Territory in 1943,[2] and made several requests to annex administratively their Fezzan to the French colonial empire. The administrative personnel remained the former Italian bureaucrats.

The British administration began the training of a badly needed Libyan civil service. Italian administrators continued to be employed in Tripoli, however. The Italian legal code remained in effect for the duration of the war. In the lightly populated Fezzan region, a French military administration formed a counterpart to the British operation. With British approval, Free French forces moved north from Chad to take control of the territory in January 1943. French administration was directed by a staff stationed in Sabha, but it was largely exercised through Fezzan notables of the family of Sayf an Nasr. At the lower echelons, French troop commanders acted in both military and civil capacities according to customary French practice in the Algerian Sahara. In the west, Ghat was attached to the French military region of southern Algeria and Ghadamis to the French command of southern Tunisia – giving rise to Libyan nationalist fears that French intentions might include the ultimate detachment of Fezzan from Libya.[3]

Fezzan joined Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to form the Kingdom of Libya on 24 December 1951. It was the first country to achieve independence through the United Nations and one of the first former European possessions in Africa to gain independence.