Federation of Arab Republics
In the 1970s Libya, led by Muammar Gaddafi, began a determined foreign policy of promoting Arab unity. He consulted Egyptian and Syrian leaders on taking steps towards that goal. When Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, a leading proponent of Arab nationalism, died in September 1970, his successor, Anwar Sadat, took his place in the discussions. The negotiations culminated in the creation of the Federation of Arab Republics (FAR) in 1972, consisting of Libya, Egypt, and Syria. Though the FAR was instituted with broad goals for the consolidation of each country's militaries, laws, and foreign policies, only symbolic gestures of unity were ever adopted, such as the establishment of a common national flag. In the following months Gaddafi aggressively campaigned for immediate unity with Egypt, while Sadat's interest in unification steadily declined. Sadat also took a personal disliking to Gaddafi, finding him an annoying and unfit leader.