Fate of Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya unknown
Egyptian workers kidnapped in Libya are still being held captive, the most vulnerable among them Coptic Christians. Their families have pleaded with Cairo to...
By: euronews (in English)
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Fate of Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya unknown - Video
The history of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi spanned a period of over four decades from 1969 to 2011. Gaddafi became the de facto leader of the country on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan military officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'tat. After the king had fled the country, the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) headed by Gaddafi abolished the monarchy and the old constitution and proclaimed the new Libyan African Republic, with the motto "freedom, socialism, and unity".[1]
After coming to power, the RCC government initiated a process of directing funds toward providing education, health care and housing for all. Despite the reforms not being entirely effective, public education in the country became free and primary education compulsory for both sexes. Medical care became available to the public at no cost but providing housing for all was a task the RCC government was not able to complete.[2] Under Gaddafi, per capita income in the country rose to more than US $11,000, the fifth highest in Africa.[3] The increase in prosperity was accompanied by a controversial foreign policy, with increased political repression at home.[1][4]
During the 1980s and 1990s, Gaddafi openly supported rebel movements like Nelson Mandela's African National Congress, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Irish Republican Army and the Polisario Front (Western Sahara), which led to a deterioration of Libya's foreign relations with several countries and that culminated in the US bombing of Libya in 1986. After the 9/11 attacks, however, the relations were mostly normalised.
In early 2011, a civil war broke out in the context of the wider "Arab Spring". The anti-Gaddafi forces formed a committee named the National Transitional Council, on 27 February 2011. It was meant to act as an interim authority in the rebel-controlled areas. After a number of atrocities were committed by the government,[5][6] with the threat of further bloodshed,[7] a multinational coalition led by NATO forces intervened on 21 March 2011 with the aim to protect civilians against attacks by the government's forces.[8] At the same time, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Gaddafi and his entourage on 27 June 2011. Gaddafi was ousted from power in the wake of the fall of Tripoli to the rebel forces on 20 August 2011, although pockets of resistance held by forces loyal to Gaddafi's government held out for another two months, especially in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, which he declared the new capital of Libya on 1 September 2011.[9] The fall of the last remaining cities under pro-Gaddafi control and Sirte's capture on 20 October 2011, followed by the subsequent killing of Gaddafi, marked the end of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
The name of the country was changed several times during Gaddafi's tenure as the leader. At first, the name was the Libyan Arab Republic. In 1977, the name was changed to Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.[10]Jamahiriya was a term coined by Gaddafi,[10] usually translated as "state of the masses".
The country was renamed again in 1986 to the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
The discovery of significant oil reserves in 1959 and the subsequent income from petroleum sales enabled the Kingdom of Libya to transition from one of the world's poorest nations to a wealthy state. Although oil drastically improved the Libyan government's finances, resentment began to build over the increased concentration of the nation's wealth in the hands of King Idris. This discontent mounted with the rise of Nasserism and Arab nationalism/socialism throughout North Africa and the Middle East.
On 1 September 1969, a group of about 70 young army officers known as the Free Officers Movement and enlisted men mostly assigned to the Signal Corps, seized control of the government and in a stroke abolished the Libyan monarchy. The coup was launched at Benghazi, and within two hours the takeover was completed. Army units quickly rallied in support of the coup, and within a few days firmly established military control in Tripoli and elsewhere throughout the country. Popular reception of the coup, especially by younger people in the urban areas, was enthusiastic. Fears of resistance in Cyrenaica and Fezzan proved unfounded. No deaths or violent incidents related to the coup were reported.[11]
The Free Officers Movement, which claimed credit for carrying out the coup, was headed by a twelve-member directorate that designated itself the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). This body constituted the Libyan government after the coup. In its initial proclamation on 1 September,[12] the RCC declared the country to be a free and sovereign state called the Libyan Arab Republic, which would proceed "in the path of freedom, unity, and social justice, guaranteeing the right of equality to its citizens, and opening before them the doors of honorable work." The rule of the Turks and Italians and the "reactionary" government just overthrown were characterized as belonging to "dark ages", from which the Libyan people were called to move forward as "free brothers" to a new age of prosperity, equality, and honor.
The RCC advised diplomatic representatives in Libya that the revolutionary changes had not been directed from outside the country, that existing treaties and agreements would remain in effect, and that foreign lives and property would be protected. Diplomatic recognition of the new government came quickly from countries throughout the world. United States recognition was officially extended on 6 September.
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History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi - Wikipedia, the ...
The violence roiling Libya has increasingly targeted oil companies and their assets, upending long-term investments by Western companies and driving down production in a country that helped launch the world-wide rout in oil prices.
In just three months, Libyan oil production has fallen from nearly 900,000 barrels a day in October to about 325,000 barrels a day in January, largely because of oil fields being taken over by armed Libyan groups or shutdowns due to security concerns, according to officials at the National Oil Co.
The plunging output comes after civil war broke out mid-2014 and caused two big closures at the end of the year.
French major Total SA closed the Mabruk oil field in central Libya, a facility that once produced 30,000 to 40,000 barrels a day. And the countrys main oil port, known as Sidra, was closed because of fighting, denting the prospects of the three American companies that have a stake in connected fieldsConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Corp. and Hess Corp.
Both sites were in the cross hairs of fresh violence on Tuesday. At Mabruk, at least four guards were killed and three hostages were taken when gunmen stormed the facility in a coordinated attack. But Mashallah al-Zawie, a top oil official, rose the estimate to nine on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. Libyan oil officials believe the attackers were radical Islamists and were investigating reports of a higher death toll.
Libya has been mired in violence and political divisions since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was killed in an uprising in 2011, and a civil war has broken out between the internationally recognized government based in the countrys east and a rebel faction known as Libya Dawn that controls the countrys capital of Tripoli.
Oil has long been the countrys lifeblood, with exports reaching up to 1.3 million barrels a day at peak production from Africas largest crude reserves.
There was an implicit agreement between the different fractions to avoid disrupting oil production, said Richard Mallinson, a geopolitical analyst at London-based consultancy Energy Aspects. Now the parties have realized that controlling oil means power.
The instability has had knock-on effects for other companies.
Late December, the German energy company Wintershall Holding GmbHwhich says it has invested more than $2 billion in Libyashutdown its Libyan production because of the fighting at Sidra, which is close to the Ras Lanuf and Zueitina terminals it uses.
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Oil Companies in Cross Hairs in Libya
Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni arrives for a dinner hosted by President Obama last August in Washington. Thinni heads Libya's internationally recognized government, but due to the fighting among rival factions, he is operating from the eastern city of Bayda, hundreds of miles east of the capital, Tripoli. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption
Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni arrives for a dinner hosted by President Obama last August in Washington. Thinni heads Libya's internationally recognized government, but due to the fighting among rival factions, he is operating from the eastern city of Bayda, hundreds of miles east of the capital, Tripoli.
At a recent protest, Libyans in the eastern city of Bayda chanted: "There's no gas, there's no electricity, you've brought us nothing, Thinni."
The protesters were referring to Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, the head of one of Libya's two rival governments. His government is relegated to Bayda, a city of just 250,000 people because it doesn't control the capital in far-away Tripoli, hundreds of miles to the west.
The protesters shut down the agricultural research building that's the government's temporary home. They stopped employees from entering, and they beat up a cabinet minister as he exited the building.
These incidents are signs of the growing frustration in a country wealthy with oil but plagued by chaos. With daily electricity blackouts and water shortages in the cold of winter, Bayda is a city that barely functions.
Bayda has been thrust into the center of Libya's conflict as the home to the internationally recognized government, which is barred from the capital by rival armed groups and a rival government. And the government in Bayda is struggling to carry the burden of rising real estate prices, thousands of displaced citizens and failing services.
Demonstrators attempted to storm the headquarters of Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni last month to demand the dismantling of his government, which has been able to provide few services. Stringer/Reuters/Landov hide caption
At a nearby gas station, cars are at a standstill for three city blocks. This week, there is no gas because of the kidnappings of truck drivers who distribute fuel. Other drivers went on strike, angry that they aren't safe on the roads, which pass through territories controlled by extremists or militias fighting this government.
It is becoming increasingly common for services to be disrupted by conflict. Akram Hadath waited hours for gas, forced to close his women's clothing shop to stake out a place in line.
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Libya Today: 2 Governments, Many Militias, Infinite Chaos
British Council interview with Dr. Mokhtar Jwaili, Libya
Cairo Symposium: British Council interview with Dr. Mokhtar Jwaili, Libya.
By: BritishCouncilEgypt
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British Council interview with Dr. Mokhtar Jwaili, Libya - Video