Kufra

For the crater, see Kufra (crater).

Kufra الكفرة Cufra
Kufra Location in Libya
Coordinates: 24°11′N 23°17′E
Country	Libya
Region	Cyrenaica
District	Kufra
Time zone	UTC +2
License Plate Code	20

Kufra (/ˈkuːfrə/) is a basin and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of the 19th century, Kufra became the centre and holy place of the Senussi order. It also played a minor role in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II.

It is located in a particularly isolated area, not only because it is in the middle of the Sahara Desert but also because it is surrounded on three sides by depressions which make it dominate the passage of the east-west land traffic across the desert. For the colonial Italians, it was also important as a station on the north-south air route to Italian East Africa. These factors, along with Kufra's dominance of the southeastern Cyrenaica region of Libya, highlight the strategic importance of the oasis and why it was a point of conflict during World War II.

Etymology

The folk etymology associates the word "Kufra" as coming from the Arabic word kafir (كافر), meaning "disbeliever" or "infidel". The term kafir originates from the Arabic root K-F-R, which means "to cover" or "to conceal". In Islamic theology, it refers to someone who denies or conceals the truth of Islam, with reference to the Toubou people native to the region.

The association of the term Kufra stems from the early 19th-century context, marked by Arab-initiated tribal conflict and territorial expansion in southern Cyrenaica. Arab tribes—primarily the Zuwayya and Jawabis—sought to assert control over the region’s most fertile oases, a core area of Toubou settlement.

Contemporary accounts, such as those by the German explorer Friedrich Hornemann (1772–1801), who crossed the Libyan Desert in 1799, Hornemann recorded information from the inhabitants of Aguila (Awjila), primarily Berbers—who are the ancestors of the present-day Tuareg and Amazigh peoples—who informed him that Febabo (the ancient Toubou name for present-day Kufra Oasis) lay approximately ten days' journey to the south, averaging around twenty-one miles per day. They also noted that no water could be found during the first six days of travel from Awjila toward Kufra.

The first Arab invasions, carried out by the Jawazi tribes from northern Cyrenaica in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, were met with local resistance and ultimately repelled. A pivotal moment occurred in 1808, during the rule of Yusuf Karamanli, Pasha of (1795–1832), the governor of Tripoli. After facing strong local resistance, Arab tribes sought military aid from the Ottoman authorities. In response, they were supplied with firearms and troops, leading to the occupation of the Kufra region—one of the Toubou's strongholds—by the Arab Zuwayya and their allies. These military campaigns reportedly resulted in significant casualties among the native Toubou (also known as Gara'an) and Zaghawa populations and many were forced to migrate from the region. However, Kufra never fully came under the dominion of either the Arabs or the Ottomans. During this period, Arab forces referred to the Toubou as kuffar (the plural of kafir, meaning "disbelievers"), a term employed in military rhetoric and campaign slogans. Thus, it became associated with the region itself, ultimately giving rise to the toponym Kufra.

The broader region came to be known as Kufra, with al-Jawf frequently referred to by the same name, serving as both its administrative and geographic center. Historically, southern Cyrenaica was known in prehistoric times for its fertility and verdant landscape. In the Toubou language, it was called Tazer, meaning "Greenland", a term also applied specifically to al-Jawf (Kufra). Over time, the toponym Febabo came into use for the al-Jawf oasis, meaning "the one with the grand pits" in the Toubou language.

The region was also referenced by Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs (1831–1896) in 1879, who referred to the site as Kebabo. Rohlfs speculated that Hornemann had misspelled the name and incorrectly assumed it was derived from the Arabic Kufra. This was inaccurate. The name Febabo appears in several historical cartographic records as Kebabo, which is also incorrect. However, it has been misspelled even by the native scholars, despite its accurate meaning having been properly explained—leading to the continued use of Kebabo instead of the original Febabo.

Rohlfs further observed that the area was part of the ancient ancestral seat of the Garamantes. He noted, however, that he did not have the opportunity to consult directly with Toubou regarding the deeper historical context of the region. Furthermore, he reported that the Arab Zuwayya tribe was reluctant to disclose information about the earlier history of the Toubou in Kufra and kept it as very secretive. Because he did not ask the Toubou, he did not know the meaning of Febabo, despite it being a relatively simple and straightforward word. According to local accounts, the Arab Zuwayya tribe destroyed ancient Toubou sites in an attempt to erase their historical presence from the region—an action that further corresponds with Rohlfs' observations.

Similarly, Hornemann recorded accounts from the people of Awjila—primarily Berbers—who described Febabou (Kufra) as a ten-day journey from their settlement. These are the same people, from the same place who were the Nasamones and other Berbers the ancestors of the Tuareg, who clearly provided geographic descriptions and oral accounts to the Greek historian Herodotus. (c. 484–425 BCE), offering early insights into the region's geography, which has led many travelers to become confused. Concerning the Garamantes, Herodotus' descriptions are contradictory, raising critical questions about the reliability of his ethnographic accounts. Notably, Palmer (p. 152) and others documented that some Tuareg tribes migrated from Aguila to the Air region around the 11th century CE.

The history of Black people in North Africa from Egypt to Morocco has frequently been manipulated. Similar to ancient Egypt, the histories of Black people in Libya have been systematically distorted, marginalized, or erased—especially the history of the Toubou people and their ancestors Tehenu, Temehu and Garamantes. Their heritage has often been misrepresented by Western writers, some Arabian Libyans and the Berbers have also exploited biased narratives around the identities of the Tehenu (Temehu) and Garamantes. The Garamantian is NOT a barbarian civilization.

The name Garamantes, recorded by Herodotus, has meaning and it is deeply rooted in Toubou which means "Ga-speaking people." The name Gara'an—another name for the Toubou—this name is used in Sudan and some parts of Chad to refer to the Toubou and ascribed to them through their Garamantin ancestors. In fact, these names are used interchangeably throughout the Toubou world. The name Garamantes can be broken down as follows: Ga (the name of their language → Daza-Ga—Teda-Ga) + ra (speakers) + ma (people) and the term Garamantes originates from Gara'ma—ntes (equivalent to Gara'an), meaning "Ga-speaking people." The Daza-Ga and Teda-Ga speakers were anciently referred to as Gara (also the original Kushites), their designation meaning "Ga-speakers," while ma (equivalent to an) signifies "people." Hence, Garamantes essentially means "Ga-speaking people." The Tehenu (Temehu), ancient Libyan tribal groups are the direct ancestors of the Garamantes—themselves are the direct forebears of the Toubou. The names Tehenu and Temehu mean “Southern land” and “Eastern land,” respectively. In both terms, Te means “land,” while henu means “south” and mehu means “east.” This distinction is also confirmed by historical sources, including Oric Bates, who observed that the names correspond to specific geographical places. these interpretations are supported by linguistic and geographical evidence, as acknowledged by other historians as well.

Similarly, the name Toubou follows a structure comparable to that of their ancestors, the Tehenu (Temehu). The first syllable Tu in Toubou means "land," just like the prefixes Ta, Te, and Ti, which all carry the same meaning. The second syllable Bu literally means "Big," however, also conveys extended meanings such as "Grand" or "Great." Therefore, in this linguistic and cultural context, Toubou can be interpreted as "The Grand Land" or "The Great Land," reflecting the vast territory they once inhabited, have historically lived in, and continue to inhabit today—spanning Libya, Chad, Niger, Sudan, Nigeria, and beyond. The name also carries enduring cultural, ancestral, and symbolic significance to their identity.

Eurocentric narratives have deliberately distorted the meanings of these names, intentionally claiming that Tehenu means "olive oil" or "land of olives." Meanwhile, the Temehu—a well-defined branch of the Tehenu were misrepresented by figures such as Gerald Massey in A Book of the Beginnings. Massey claimed their name meant "created white," interpreting Tama as "created" or "people" and hu as "white," implying they were "created white," fair like Europeans. Others have even asserted that they had blue eyes and blond hair. However, these claims lack credible historical evidence. In reality, ancient wall depictions and historical records clearly confirm that both the Tehenu and Temehu were Black people—members of the same people—and that the ancient Egyptians used these terms interchangeably without distinction to refer to the same people.

Furthermore, Eurocentric scholars have neglected to acknowledge the ancestors of the Garamantes but also have distorted the meaning of the Libyan Pharaoh Sheshonq’s title, "Great Chief of the Ma." Sheshonq I, founder of Egypt's 22nd Dynasty, was of Tehenu origin, as explicitly stated on the Stela of Pasenhor. The inscription also names his grandfather, Buyu-Wawa, and other family members with names of significant meanings and the same this family of descented from Buyu-Wawa also ruled the 23 dynasty—for instance, Iyubut (also spelled Auput), meaning "Man of Status," where the "T" signifies "of," and Bami (Pamey), which means "Son of Men of Status." Despite such clear links, Eurocentric narratives have attempted to obscure the origins of the Tehenu, who were the founders of Egypt’s 22nd and 23rd Dynasties. The Tehenu also were the first Libyan people to be mentioned in Egyptian records, dating back to the Old Kingdom. They were virtually indistinguishable from the Egyptians themselves, occupying high-ranking military positions and playing an integral role in Egyptian society as well as Egyptian records used the terms Tehenu and Temehu interchangeably, referring to the same people. Scholars like Oric Bates—similar to Haynes—appear to have misunderstood or overlooked the true identities and legacy of the Tehenu, the Garamantes, and the Toubou. Notably, the Tehenu gave rise to rulers who ascended to the Egyptian throne during the 22nd and 23rd dynasties.

Sheshonq’s title, "Great Chief of the Ma," literally means the "Great Chief of the Noble Rulers (Mais)". Here, "Ma" (anglicized Mais) is the plural form of "Mai," the official title for Kanem-Bornu kings. For instance, the king of the Duguwa dynasty was called Boyo-Ma, meaning "The Big of the Noble Rulers (Mais)," while Sheshonq’s grandfather Boyo-Wawa means The Big of the Wawa areas. The Wawa areas include Waw al-Namous, Waw al-Kabir, Tuma (= Temehu) is located in Fazzen near the Niger border and many other place names, and places in Chad such as in Tibesti Wari, Waria, Zower, Zowerga, and Taanoa (= Tehenu) is located Fazzen between Chad and Libya and many more other place names. All these place names refer to as a series of Wawa areas in Toubou. The Kanem-Bornu Empire is a Toubou Empire, and the royal family of the empire is of Toubou origin. This title Ma further confirms the shared origin of the Kanem-Bornu Kings. Additionally, the name Boyo (Buyu), as noted by Palmer, along with the word Mâ are of purely Toubou origin. Variations such as ama, am and ma—synonymous with ana, an and na—all mean "people." Typically, Ama and Ana are used as prefixes, while the others function as suffixes. The word Ma, in particular, carries several meanings depending on the context, including "human"—for example, in the name Shiruma, which means "difficult human"—as well as "sons," "noble ruler," "noble rulers," or simply "ruler," "rulers," "noble," and "nobles." While Palmer’s work addresses some of these meanings, it does not fully cover all aspects, including certain tribal origins. Nevertheless, his research remains valuable, and these gaps are relatively minor. He was one of the earliest researchers to come remarkably close to uncovering the true origin of the Garamantes (Toubou). The name Akakus mountains is of Toubou origin and many others.

In addition, Friedrich Hornemann recorded that the inhabitants (Berbers) of Awjila (Augila), described the language of the Toubou as resembling "the whistling of birds." This description closely mirrors the second passage of Herodotus about the Garamantes (Histories, Book IV, page 184), reported that the Garamantes spoke in a manner “like the whistling of bats or birds.” Hornemann noted that the Berbers of Awjila used identical phrasing when describing the Toubou tribes, strongly showing that Herodotus's account was clearly influenced by Berber informants from this region. Aguila was one of Toubou's ancient homelands that was abandoned following Berbers (Tuareg-Amazagh) invasion that occurred long before Herodotus’s time. This also implies that Herodotus has been unaware of the indigenous identity of the Garamantes (Toubou) in Aguila, as well as the meaning of the name "Awjila" itself—information that have been obscured, much like the case of the Psylli tribe (Amazigh) that said to have been buried by a strong desert sandstorm during the time of Herodotus. According to him, they perished when the force of the south wind dried up their water tanks, leaving their land—located in the region of the Syrtis—completely waterless. After deliberating, the Psylli decided to march south. As Herodotus notes, "I tell the story as it is told by the Libyans," indicating his reluctance to confirm its accuracy—something common in his accounts. Upon entering the sandy desert, they were overwhelmed and buried by a strong south wind, leading to their complete destruction. Their land was subsequently taken over by the Nasamones.

Oric Bates further critiques Herodotus’s narrative regarding the Psylli tribe since the Psylli were still in existence during Pliny’s time, hence their portrayal in Herodotus’s account appears to have been fabricated or altered by neighboring groups—particularly the Nasamones—who had occupied their lands, nearly exterminated them, and reshaped their history for political or cultural purposes. The repetition of such specific language in both ancient and later sources strongly shows a shared narrative tradition originating from people of Awjila, which lies geographically close to key Garamantian (Toubou's ancestors) settlements, notably the Zella Oasis in the Jufrah district—one of the ancient homelands of the Toubou and the name Zella is of Toubou origin as well like Awjila which is also mentioned by Herodotus a ten day from Awjila. This proximity raises the possibility that Berber intermediaries shaped or reframed aspects of Garamantian history to align with their own oral traditions or political narratives. Within this context, the portrayal of the Garamantes as deliberately rudimentary or linguistically obscure clearly reflects the distortions introduced through second-hand reporting rather than an accurate ethnographic account.

Some scholars, such as Oric Bates in The Eastern Libyans, have questioned the reliability of Herodotus’s descriptions—particularly his claims that the Garamantes “shun the sight and fellowship of men,” possess “no weapons of war,” and are characterized by general “ignorance.” Also, Bates argues that two passages by Herodotus are corrupted. These portrayals are clear distortions arising from secondhand reports mediated by local informants, specifically the people of Awjila—ancestors of the Tuareg-Amazigh (Berbers)—rather than from direct observation. Such early inaccuracies were later echoed and elaborated upon by other writers, most notably the Roman author Pliny the Elder. Pliny and others introduced a fictitious group called the Gamphasantes as discussed in Bates p. 53, seemingly invented to reconcile the contradictions within Herodotus’s narrative.

Pliny also pointed out a place where the precious stones known as carbuncles—highly valued by the Romans and the ancient world—were produced and traded through interactions with the Troglodytae (Aethiopians), i.e., the Garamantes, who transported these stones from Ethiopia (Africa). The terms “Troglodytae” and “Aethiopians” were often used interchangeably by ancient writers and frequently referred to the Garamantes as either Troglodytae, Aethiopians or both—i.e., as “Troglodytaean Aethiopians” (meaning Blacks). As Bates notes (The Eastern Libyans, p. 53), the northern Fezzan region (modern-day Jufra) was inhabited by Troglodytic Aethiopians—who were, in fact, the Garamantes. Herodotus places the Garamantes approximately ten days’ journey from Awjila, which corresponds precisely to the Zella Oasis or the broader Jufra district. As stated by Oric Bates, these two passages in Herodotus were corrupted as a result of deliberate distortion by his local Berber (Tuareg-Amazigh) informants—manipulations that remain evident upon close analysis.

Furthermore, Pliny elaborated on Herodotus’s second passage concerning the Troglodytae Ethiopians, stating that they hollowed out caverns to live in and they have no voice—only making noises—being entirely devoid of intercourse by speech. These claims, among other details, were clearly borrowed from Herodotus’s account. However, Pliny also noted that the Romans engaged in trade with the Troglodytae (Aethiopians) to acquire the precious stones known as carbuncles as seen above. These implausible details further contributed to a distorted portrayal based on Herodotus’s secondhand reports rather than direct ethnographic observation. Pliny also references tribes and place names corresponding to actual Toubou (Garamantes) populations encountered during the Balbus expedition in Fezzan against the Garamantes in the 19 BC—including the Alele, Balla, Buluba, Maxalla and Tamaigi tribes, among many others. This suggests that while Pliny had access to genuine ethnographic material, it was often interwoven with apocryphal or distorted accounts inherited from Herodotus that shaped by local informants.

Few historians have subjected Herodotus’s claims to serious critical examination. For the most part, later writers uncritically repeated his accounts, allowing inaccuracies and distortions to persist over the centuries. It was only during the mid-20th century that a limited number of scholars—particularly some German or Austrians historians—undertook more rigorous and critical analyses of Herodotus’s descriptions, challenging long-standing assumptions and emphasizing the need for evidence-based interpretations. When these historians conducted field investigations in the Tibesti region, they found no evidence supporting the idea that the Toubou lived in caves there. Instead, caves were used only as temporary shelters or resting points during long desert journeys. The researchers found no signs of permanent or long human habitation, such as smoke stains on cave ceilings or tools embedded in the ground. Additionally, most Toubou tribes migrated into the Tibesti region relatively recently, between the 15th and 18th centuries, initially fleeing punitive campaigns conducted by the Kanem-Bornu kings. Subsequent waves of displacement occurred during the 19th century from the Jalu Oasis and Cyrenaica more broadly, as a result of Arab invasions aided by the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Yusuf Pasha Karamanli

The term "Ama-Zagh" is of Toubou origin. Specifically, in the Toubou Dazaga dialect, "Ama" means "people" and "Zagh" means "camp," so the term translates directly to "camp people." While in the Toubou Tedaga dialect, a similar construction appears in the word "Zagh-na": "Zagh" still means "camp," while "na" functions as a suffix denoting people, the same resulting in the meaning "camp people." Both terms are mentioned in the Diwan of the Kanem-Bornu Empire, a key historical source that records in significant events, with entries dating as far back as the 7th century. The term "Zaghwa," referring to a Nilo-Saharan people closely related to the Toubou, also appears to share this linguistic root. In the Toubou language, "Zagh" means "camp," while "wa" is a possessive suffix, meaning "camp dwellers." Across all the Saharan tribes—including the Tuareg (Berbers)—the word "Zagh" consistently refers to a camp, with its linguistic origin goes back to the Toubou language. Tamasheq (Tamashek), Tamajeq and Tamaheq are the languages of the Tuareg people, and these terms hold deep linguistic and cultural significance just like the Amazaigh language names. For instance, Tamasheq can be broken down as follows. The prefix Ta means "land" in the Toubou language, and this usage extends across all of North Africa. The term appears in expressions like Ta-Mery, meaning "beloved land," which was also used in ancient Egyptian to refer to Upper and Lower Egypt while Ma is synonymous of Ama of Toubou origin and in this context meaning "people." Finally, Sheq is derived from Zagh, which means "camp" and reflects their encampments or settlements. All of these elements of Tuareg—Jeg, Heq, and Sheq—are derived from Zagh, which the Tuareg adopted from the Toubou language.

Ptolemy (c. 90–168) identified a Garamantian tribe called Tedamansi (Teda-ma-nsi), located between Fezzan and Tripolitania. The name Tedamansi can be interpreted as "sons of the Teda," where "Teda" refers to the inhabitants of Tu (Tibesti), and "ma" means "sons" in this context, while "nsi", however, the exact meaning of "nsi" remains uncertain due to limited linguistic evidence. Additionally, Ptolemy described the Garamantes as Aethiopians (Blacks), a classification echoed by several other ancient sources, as noted by Haynes and others and Haynes appears unaware of the ancestral connection of the Toubou to their forebears—the Tehenu, Temehu, and Garamantes—due to the distortions and omissions introduced by Eurocentric scholarship. Notably, he even acknowledged that a significant problem needs to be resolved.

For a long time, many historians—such as Al-Maqrizi (1360–1442) and Leo Africanus (Hassan al-Wazzan al-Fasi, 1483–1552)—believed that the Toubou were Berbers. This view echoed ancient writers’ inability and confusion, leaving both the Toubou and their Garamantian ancestors misunderstood. In addition, during his travels in the 1520s, Leo Africanus referred to the Toubou as the "Berdoa" people, also noting that they lived ten days west of Awjila—corresponding to northern Fezzan in the modern Jufra district. He also identified the Kanem-Bornu kings as Berdoa. This name derives from the town of Bardia, next to the Egyptian border, and was used by Leo to describe the Toubou.The Tehenu (Temehu) lived in Jabal El Uweinat, the area from which the name Tehenu originated

Geography

Kufra is an elliptic shaped basin, oriented northeast-southwest. The major axis is 50 km (31 mi), the minor 20 km (12 mi) long. It is bordered by hills which are at most 100 m high. The soil consists of red marl or sand and in the lowest parts there are salt lakes or dried salines. In the basin lie the following oases:

• Al Jawf ("Center"), the largest, situated at the northeast end of the basin, 5 km (3.1 mi) long and 2–3 km (1.2–1.9 mi) wide. It is rich with palms and gardens.
• Buma and Buema, both small and situated to the east of Al Jawf. Gerhard Rohlfs set his camp north of Buema, and since then the locality is known as "Garet-en-Nasrani" ("Field of the Christian" in Arabic). Kufra Airport is located in Buma.
• Ez-Zurgh, situated 4 km (2.5 mi) to the south of Al Jawf. It consists of a line of Palm trees. Until the Italian occupation it was inhabited only by slaves.
• Et-Tleilíb and Et-Talláb, both situated to the southwest of Al Jawf. The latter is the farthest from Al Jawf, lying 20 km (12 mi) away.

On the north edge of the basin, there is the village of El Tag, which means crown in Arabic, which does not contain an oasis. It was founded by Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi, the son of the founder of the Senussi order, when he moved to Kufra and is considered the holy place of Senussi.

Climate

Due to its location in the Libyan Desert, Kufra has a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh), with mild winters, very hot summers, a high diurnal temperature variation and almost precipitation. The average annual mean temperature is 23.0 °C (73.4 °F), the average annual high temperature is 31.1 °C (88.0 °F) and the average annual low temperature is 15.0 °C (59.0 °F). June, July and August are the hottest months, having mean temperatures of 30.5 °C (86.9 °F), average high temperatures around 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) or higher and average lows around 23.0 °C (73.4 °F). January is the coldest month, with the lowest average high at 21.0 °C (69.8 °F), lowest mean at 13.0 °C (55.4 °F) and lowest average low at 5.0 °C (41.0 °F).

Kufra receives only 1 millimetre (0.039 in) of rain annually, making it one of the driest locations in the world. Humidity is lower in summer than in winter, with the summer months having a humidity of just 23% and December having a humidity of 48%. Kufra receives abundant amounts of sunshine, with 3689 hours of sunshine annually (84% of possible sunshine), with the most sunshine in summer and the least in winter. July receives the most sunshine of any month with 284 hours on average, while February and December receive the least with 262 hours and 266 hours respectively.

Climate data for Kufra, Libya (Altitude: 435 m or 1,427 ft)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	21.0 (69.8)	23.0 (73.4)	28.0 (82.4)	33.0 (91.4)	37.0 (98.6)	39.0 (102.2)	38.0 (100.4)	38.0 (100.4)	35.0 (95.0)	32.0 (89.6)	27.0 (80.6)	22.0 (71.6)	31.1 (88.0)
Daily mean °C (°F)	13.0 (55.4)	15.0 (59.0)	19.5 (67.1)	24.0 (75.2)	28.5 (83.3)	30.5 (86.9)	30.5 (86.9)	30.5 (86.9)	27.5 (81.5)	24.5 (76.1)	19.0 (66.2)	14.0 (57.2)	23.0 (73.5)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	5.0 (41.0)	7.0 (44.6)	11.0 (51.8)	15.0 (59.0)	20.0 (68.0)	22.0 (71.6)	23.0 (73.4)	23.0 (73.4)	20.0 (68.0)	17.0 (62.6)	11.0 (51.8)	6.0 (42.8)	15.0 (59.0)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	1 (0.0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	1 (0.0)
Average rainy days	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Average relative humidity (%)	45	38	33	28	24	23	23	23	27	31	42	48	32
Mean monthly sunshine hours	279	262	294	286	306	342	384	374	301	298	292	266	3,689
Percentage possible sunshine	84	83	80	76	75	85	93	94	85	84	90	82	84
Source: Climatemps.com

History

Early history

Claudius Ptolemy wrote that around 90 AD Julius Maternus (or Matiernus) carried out a mainly commercial expedition. From the Sirte gulf he reached the Oasis of Cufra and the Oasis of Archei, then arrived, after 4 months travelling with the king of the Garamantes, to the river Bahr Salamat and Bahr Aouk, near modern-day Central African Republic in a region then called Agisymba.

In 1154 al-Idrisi described a place identified by Lewicki as the oasis of Kufra. Al Idrisi writes that the place was once flourishing and peopled, but was by that point in ruin, its wells dry, its herds returned to the wild. In the late 15th century, Leo Africanus reported an oasis in the land of the Berdoa, visited by a caravan coming from Awjila. It is possible that this oasis was identical with either the Al Jawf (Kufra) or the Tazirbu oasis, and on early modern maps, the Al Kufra region was often labelled as Berdoa based on this report. Berdoa possibly corresponded to the Toubou, a Nilo-Saharan speaking tribal people indigenous to the region.

Early Western contact and the Senussi

The Kufra oasis in 1891

The territory of Kufra was first explored by Westerners beginning with the 1873/74 expedition by German Gerhard Rohlfs. Rohlfs reportedly first reached the oasis from the north in 1879.

Kufra was an important trade and travelling route for various nomadic desert people. In 1895 seeking greater independence the Senussi relocated from Jaghbub, making the oasis their main centre. However, the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II twice sent his aide-de-camp Azmzade Sadik El Mueyyed to meet Sheikh Senussi to cultivate positive relations and counter the West European scramble for Africa (see Azmzade 2021). After that, Westerners could no longer visit it until the First World War, when several soldiers of the Entente were held prisoner there.

In 1929, the Sanusi center of Kufra in the Sahara was pointed out as a center of the Trans-Saharan slave trade. In 1931, during the campaign of Cyrenaica, General Rodolfo Graziani easily conquered Kufra, considered a strategic region, leading about 3,000 soldiers from infantry and artillery, supported by about twenty bombers.

Many refugees fled the Italian conquest eastwards via Uweinat into Egypt. The British explorer Pat Clayton, engaged in mapping areas of previously unmapped desert, encountered the Kufra refugees when running triangulation from Wadi Halfa to Uweinat, and helped save many from death in the arid desert.

Italian takeover of Kufra

Rodolfo Graziani and Amedeo D'Aosta's troops in Kufra, 1931

The Frankfurter Zeitung reporter and author Muhammad Asad interviewed a man from Kufra after its seizure by the Italians in his book The Road to Mecca. According to Asad's source, the Italians attacked from three sides, with armored cars, artillery, and aircraft. The defenders, a few hundred men with only small arms unable to penetrate the Italian armor, defended the place house-to-house but were overwhelmed. The Italians (and their Eritrean auxiliaries) then raped the women, tore up a Koran and cast it on the ground, cut down the palm trees, burnt Sayyid Ahmad's library, and took some of the elders and scholars and hurled them to their death from airplanes.

Italian rule and World War II

In the following years the Italians built an airfield (now Kufra Airport) in Buma oasis and a fort in El Tag, which dominated the area.

Buma airport was equipped with a radio-centre for flight assistance and was often used as a stop for routes toward Asmara and Italian East Africa. The fort was also used as a radio post to guide in Italian aircraft as well as to maintain communication with Italian East Africa.

Kufra grew in importance when the Second World War started and, after the Suez Canal was closed to Italian shipping, connections with Italian East Africa became mainly aerial, using Kufra and its strategic location.

Kufra, due to its key role for the Italian Royal Army, soon became a target for the Allies, with Free France and British desert troops beginning a long battle for its conquest. On 31 January 1941 Pat Clayton, an explorer recruited by British Intelligence, was captured by the Italian Auto-Saharan Company near Jebel Sherif, when leading "T" Patrol in reconnaissance of the planned attack on Kufra.

The Free French from Chad, with General Leclerc leading a combined force of Free French and Chadian native troops, attacked and took Kufra in the Battle of Kufra.

In later stages of the Western Desert Campaign, Kufra was used as a staging post for Allied units such as the Long Range Desert Group and the Special Air Service.

In May 1942 it was a location of the Tragedy at Kufra, where three South African Air Force Bristol Blenheim aircraft became lost and after landing safely the crews subsequently died due to lack of water.

After the war

After the Axis were expelled from North Africa, and when after the war it became part of independent Libya, the Buma airfield at Kufra was used little and fell into disrepair. The town surrounding the oasis is still dominated by the old fort of El Tag, built by the Italians in the mid-1930s.

On 26 August 2008, a hijacked Sudanese Boeing 737 landed at Kufra Airport after having departed from Nyala Airport, Darfur, for Khartoum. Earlier, Egyptian authorities had refused to allow the plane to land in their national capital, Cairo.

In recent decades, Kufra has become a major point on the route of African migrants who try to reach Europe by various routes, and some of whom get incarcerated in Kufra's notorious prison.

During the 2011 Libyan Civil War, the area was reported to be under control of anti-Gaddafi forces and not the government of Muammar Gaddafi on 2 April 2011. On 28 April 2011, loyalist forces reportedly re-captured Kufra. There were no reports of casualties in the fighting for the town after the rebels put up only light resistance. By 6 May 2011 the town had been retaken by the Libyan rebels. In February 2012, fighting between the Tobu and Zuwayya tribes killed over a hundred people and the town became a focal point for mass human rights violations of refugees and migrants.

Tourism

Kufra is situated in the middle of the Sahara for its pristine desert beauty, so that tours to the oasis are organized by local tour operators.

Kufra in migrants' routes and human trafficking

Migrants coming from the East African coast and the Near East pass through and compulsorily stop in Kufra. It is a little village of transit along the traditional route between Khartoum and the coastal Libyan towns, which has lately turned to be a spot gathering Libyan-Sudanese criminal organizations involved in the illegal transport of immigrants, police officers controlling the boundaries and the need of people working in local productive activities.

The village of Kufra has long been suspected and accused by European Parliamentary delegations as being criminally instrumental in assisting migrants. In 2007, they defined Kufra as "a free zone, a sort of starting Centre of Temporary Permanence CPT against the law... These gathering centres are places, in which the first contacts with the criminal organizations occur. Such organizations promote the "journey of hope", with a flexible handling of the Migrants' African routes according to the restriction policies adopted by the various governments. The minds of the criminal organizations act accordingly to what happens in each country: if Morocco stresses its restrain policies, the routes move towards the Canary Islands, if the controls in Libya increase, the streams are diverted towards Malta. When the migratory stream is over, the routes are back on Libya and Tunisia."

The 1,500-kilometre-long (930 mi) route towards the coastal Libyan towns is done at night on covered trucks. Such journey conditions are described as "hellish". People are often stopped by the police and therefore the route is covered many times in both directions. Once the migrants arrive, or are brought back, in Kufra, the only way to escape this situation is to pay people traders, which are often colluded with the police officers. People brought back to the Sudanese border may reverse the course just with cash money. Hence the occurrence of continuous exploitation, enlistment in the work and prostitution black market, painful waiting for a money order urged by relatives and friends through mobile phone communications, which are allowed only for this aim.

In 2005 Italy allocated funds for the creation of a detention camp at Kufra.

Inhuman conditions of detention

Kufra jail is defined by Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants, who stayed there, as:

...a place of death. When you hear the sound of the keys in the cell lock your blood freezes. You have to turn towards the wall. If you look them in the eyes, they beat you repeatedly. (Daniel, 22 years old, from Eritrea)

We were about 700 people, about 100 Ethiopians, 200 Eritreans and 400 from Chad and Sudan. We slept on the floor, one on the other, there wasn't even a place to lay down. For lunch: a fist of white rice for the all day, less than 570 grams each. There were also some baguettes, but you needed money to get them... (an ex-colonel of the Eritrean army, political refugee in Italy)

When I saw Kufra I wanted to hitch up. They took my mobile phone and all the money I had in my pocket and put me in to a cell with other 20 people. There is no need in telling you about the dirt, hunger and continuous humiliations. There were also cells for women and children. They were kept separated from us. Women won't ever tell the truth because of shame, but it's useful to make everybody aware of what happened to women in Kufra. They were raped in front of their husbands, their brothers. They used pieces of iron, sticks... It's shameful. They treated us like beasts. (Yakob, another boy from Eritrea)

Agricultural project

Kufra irrigation circles seen from the SPOT 5 satellite

Kufra cultivated areas seen from space

At the beginning of the 1970s, Libya launched a great cultivation project in Kufra aimed at developing agriculture in the desert. LEPA irrigation is provided by fossil water beneath the ground surface, the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, a non-renewable source and the only accessible water resource in the area. Rotors (high sprinkler that rotates) provide irrigation and the obtained circles have a diameter of about 1 km and can be observed from space.

This is one of Libya's largest agricultural projects. Because only about two percent of Libya's land receives enough rainfall to be cultivated, this project uses the underground aquifer. The green circles in the desert frequently indicate tracts of agriculture supported by center-pivot irrigation. The agricultural project is an easy-to-recognize landmark for orbiting astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The Libyan government also has a project called the Great Manmade River to pump and transport these groundwater reserves to the coast to support Libya's growing population and industrial development. As of December 2011, the excessive exploitation of the aquifer has provoked the complete drying up of the lake in the oasis.

Sources

• Azmzade, Gokkent, Osmansoy, Senusi (2021). Journey in the Grand Sahara of Africa and Through Time. Gokkent. ISBN 9781737129882.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Bertarelli, L.V. (1929). Guida d'Italia, Vol. XVII (in Italian). Milano: Consociazione Turistica Italiana.

External links

• Information about the Battle for Kufra
• (DE) Kufra Project
• (DE) Green Desert, Kufra Project