On this day in ...... 1985, an ongoing armed conflict in West Africa, sometimes called the Agacher War because it centered in a resource-rich Agacher Strip between Burkina Faso and Mali, intensified when the troops from the latter country attacked a number of border posts and police stations in the former soon after a dispute over the apparently accidental presence of Burkinabe census agents at refugee camps in Mali. Following failed negotiation efforts by Libya, Nigeria, and the Organization of African Unity, a ceasefire was achieved 5 days after the outbreak of what in Burkina Faso became known as the "Christmas War."
