Egypt’s planned overland route to Chad via Libya, part of Cairo’s broader push to establish a direct land link with its African depth, has grown increasingly precarious amid expanding conflicts in Libya, Chad, and near Sudan’s Darfur region, where war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces continues to escalate.
Cairo sees the project as a future economic corridor that would connect Egypt to Central Africa and generate significant gains across trade and construction sectors. Despite financial and security challenges, Egypt has completed roughly 15 per cent of the route inside its borders.
Earlier in November, Egypt’s Minister of Industry and Transport, Kamel al-Wazir, described the road as a strategic axis that would strengthen connectivity in North–Central Africa and expand intra-African trade. A permanent joint technical committee has been established to follow up on implementation, set a unified timetable, and resolve emerging obstacles, he said.
But although the Ministry of Transport says work is progressing on the 2,570-kilometre route through Libya, particularly the 370-kilometre East Owaynat–Kufra stretch, an anonymous Egyptian source told our Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that multiple state bodies consider the timing entirely unsuitable. The project's completion is effectively impossible given the active conflicts the route would cross in Libya, Chad, and near Darfur, the source said.
Security assessments make moving forward "illogical", as shifting military control along the proposed path leaves no space for a stable transport corridor. In addition, the original plan envisioned a safer route through Sudan, but the outbreak of war there forced Egypt to reroute the project through Libya and into Chad.
Subsequent developments have shown that the alternative path is equally unstable, the source added.
In Libya, the stretch from East Owaynat through Kufra to the Chadian border lies in areas marked by fluctuating military frontlines. Southern Libya has seen renewed tensions following redeployments by Khalifa Haftar's forces, movements by tribal armed groups, and the expanding Russian "African Corps" presence at Al-Sarah base near the tri-border area. "This is not an environment where you build an international highway," the source said.
In Chad, the northern regions along the proposed route are directly affected by spillover from Sudan’s war. The country is also grappling with instability, including post-election fragility, periodic northern rebellions, internal army tensions, and strained relations with armed groups. "The Libyan–Chadian route, in its current form, is completely threatened," the source said.
The source noted that while development advocates frame the road as a "continental trade artery", such infrastructure requires stability, which is something absent amid Sudan’s war, southern Libya’s power struggles, Chadian unrest, and expanding foreign military activity in the tri-border zone. How can you build a road in the middle of these political and military storms?"
A major corridor
Egypt hoped to turn the project into an economic corridor serving trade between Egypt, western Sudan, and Chad, an area central to Egypt’s livestock supply and to key imports worth around one billion dollars annually. The road would also support movement across border regions with Libya and northern Sudan and extend to N’Djamena.
But Cairo now views the project as a deferred strategic vision rather than an executable plan, monitoring regional developments and will reconsider the route when conditions allow, the source said.
"A road can only be built once the land it crosses is secure, never before."
Cost is also a significant obstacle. Building and maintaining more than 1,500 kilometres of road across dune-covered desert, often blocked by shifting sand and requiring constant clearance, would be extremely expensive, particularly in unsafe, remote terrain. As a result, Egypt currently imports meat from Chad using military aircraft, flying slaughtered livestock directly to Egyptian markets to avoid the complex and hazardous overland journey, the source said.
The tripartite road through Egypt, Libya, and Chad comes at a time of great uncertainty. Progress remains limited to partial work inside Egypt, while in Libya and Chad, it is confined to memoranda of understanding and preliminary studies. On the map, the route appears to cross vast open desert (from East Owaynat to Kufra, down to the Libyan–Chadian border and the fringes of Darfur); in reality, it passes through one of North and Central Africa’s most fragile regions, where military and political rivalries intersect.
Southern Libya, central to the project, stretching from Kufra to Qatrun and Ghat, has for years seen shifting influence as Haftar’s forces expand through units such as Subul al-Salam and Battalion 101, while sidelining powerful tribal groups like the Tebu. The growing Russian presence at Al-Sarah airbase near the Libya–Chad–Sudan tri-border, now a key hub for the African Corps that has replaced Wagner forces, further complicates the landscape.
To the south, Sudan’s war looms large. The Chadian segment runs near RSF-controlled areas in Darfur. Accusations that Haftar supports the RSF through fuel and logistical supplies, most recently detailed by The Sentry, the investigative group specialising in conflict financing, have heightened concerns that, without firm security guarantees, the road could become a corridor for parties to the Sudanese conflict.
Despite these concerns, the project retains strong backing from several African affairs experts, including Dr. Naglaa Marai, who told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the road is "a monumental project that will redraw the map of international trade." She sees it as a strategic ste,p enhancing Egypt’s Central African presence and reviving intra-African commerce.
The idea predates 2011 and was gradually revived after the revolution, with around 15 per cent of the Egyptian section now complete, alongside work on the Kufra border crossing. Egyptian firms, especially Arab Contractors, operating in Libya and Chad reflect "confidence in Egypt’s technical capabilities," Marai noted.
The project is more than infrastructure; "it is a future economic pillar linking the Red Sea to the Atlantic," said Marai. It supports Central Africa’s landlocked states, curbs irregular migration, and provides secure economic routes. Libya plans to build dry ports in Kufra and other desert towns to service the road, developments that would reinforce its role as a regional trade hub, she noted.
Reported by Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed