Page "Arab Islamic Republic" Paragraph 2

Additionally, Pan-Arabism has an impact on the politics of the Arab world.

Muammar Gaddafi was a well-known proponent of Pan-Arabism and thus had worked to achieve union with several Arab states such as Egypt, Syria, Sudan and Tunisia.

He also sought union with Chad.

Thus, in a 1972 rally in Tunis, Gaddafi spoke of supporting a union between Libya and Tunisia.

Hearing the speech by Gaddafi live at his home over the radio, President Bourguiba rushed to the rally where, after he let Gaddafi finish, he took to the stage and denounced the idea that " the Arabs had ever been united, dismissed all of ideas about rapid Arab unity, and even took the Libyans to task for what he described as their own lack of national unity and their backwardness ".

Close Libyan-Egyptian ties troubled Maghrebi leaders who feared the proximity of Egypt on their eastern borders and thus worked to pull Libya away from Egyptian influence.

At the fourth annual Non-Aligned Movement conference in Algiers, Bourguiba called for the unification of Algeria, Tunisia and Libya to form a " United States of North Africa ­", a move which he qualified by proposing it take place in stages over an " unspecified period of time ".