For most of their history, the peoples of Libya have been subjected
to varying degrees of foreign control. The Phoenicians,
Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines ruled all or
parts of Libya. Although the Greeks and Romans left impressive ruins
at Cyrene, Leptis Magna, and Sabratha, little else remains today to
testify to the presence of these ancient cultures.
The Arabs conquered Libya in the seventh century A.D. In the
following centuries, most of the indigenous peoples adopted Islam
and the Arabic language and culture. The Ottoman Turks conquered the
country in the mid-16th century. Libya remained part of their
empire--although at times virtually autonomous--until Italy invaded
in 1911 and, in the face of years of resistance, made Libya a
colony.
In 1934, Italy adopted the name "Libya" (used by the Greeks for all
of North Africa, except Egypt) as the official name of the colony,
which consisted of the Provinces of Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and
Fezzan. King Idris I, Emir of Cyrenaica, led Libyan resistance to
Italian occupation between the two World Wars. From 1943 to 1951,
Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were under British administration, while
the French controlled Fezzan. In 1944, Idris returned from exile in
Cairo but declined to resume permanent residence in Cyrenaica until
the removal in 1947 of some aspects of foreign control. Under the
terms of the 1947 peace treaty with the Allies, Italy relinquished
all claims to Libya.
On November 21, 1949, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution
stating that Libya should become independent before January 1, 1952.
King Idris I represented Libya in the subsequent UN negotiations.
When Libya declared its independence on December 24, 1951, it was
the first country to achieve independence through the United Nations
and one of the first former European possessions in Africa to gain
independence. Libya was proclaimed a constitutional and a hereditary
monarchy under King Idris.
The discovery of significant oil reserves in 1959 and the subsequent
income from petroleum sales enabled what had been one of the world's
poorest countries to become extremely wealthy, as measured by per
capita GDP. Although oil drastically improved Libya's finances,
popular resentment grew as wealth was increasingly concentrated in
the hands of the elite. This discontent continued to mount with the
rise throughout the Arab world of Nasserism and the idea of Arab
unity.
On September 1, 1969, a small group of military officers led by then
28-year-old army officer Mu'ammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi staged a
coup d'etat against King Idris, who was exiled to Egypt. The new
regime, headed by the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), abolished
the monarchy and proclaimed the new Libyan Arab Republic. Qadhafi
emerged as leader of the RCC and eventually as de facto chief of
state, a political role he still plays. The Libyan government
asserts that Qadhafi currently holds no official position, although
he is referred to in government statements and the official press as
the "Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution."
The new RCC's motto became "freedom, socialism, and unity." It
pledged itself to remedy "backwardness", take an active role in the
Palestinian Arab cause, promote Arab unity, and encourage domestic
policies based on social justice, non-exploitation, and an equitable
distribution of wealth.
An early objective of the new government was withdrawal of all
foreign military installations from Libya. Following negotiations,
British military installations at Tobruk and nearby El Adem were
closed in March 1970, and U.S. facilities at Wheelus Air Force Base
near Tripoli were closed in June 1970. That July, the Libyan
Government ordered the expulsion of several thousand Italian
residents. By 1971, libraries and cultural centers operated by
foreign governments were ordered closed.
In the 1970s, Libya claimed leadership of Arab and African
revolutionary forces and sought active roles in international
organizations. Late in the 1970s, Libyan embassies were redesignated
as "people's bureaus," as Qadhafi sought to portray Libyan foreign
policy as an expression of the popular will. The people's bureaus,
aided by Libyan religious, political, educational, and business
institutions overseas, exported Qadhafi's revolutionary philosophy
abroad.
Qadhafi's confrontational foreign policies and use of terrorism, as
well as Libya's growing friendship with the U.S.S.R., led to
increased tensions with the West in the 1980s. Following a terrorist
bombing at a discotheque in West Berlin frequented by American
military personnel, in 1986 the U.S. retaliated militarily against
targets in Libya, and imposed broad unilateral economic sanctions.
After Libya was implicated in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103
over Lockerbie, Scotland, UN sanctions were imposed in 1992. UN
Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) passed in 1992 and 1993
obliged Libya to fulfill requirements related to the Pan Am 103
bombing before sanctions could be lifted. Qadhafi initially refused
to comply with these requirements, leading to Libya's political and
economic isolation for most of the 1990s.
In 1999, Libya fulfilled one of the UNSCR requirements by
surrendering two Libyans suspected in connection with the bombing
for trial before a Scottish court in the Netherlands. One of these
suspects, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, was found guilty; the other was
acquitted. Al-Megrahi's conviction was upheld on appeal in 2002. In
August 2003, Libya fulfilled the remaining UNSCR requirements,
including acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its
officials and payment of appropriate compensation to the victims'
families. UN sanctions were lifted on September 12, 2003. U.S.
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)-based sanctions
were lifted September 20, 2004.
On December 19, 2003, Libya publicly announced its intention to rid
itself of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and Missile Technology
Control Regime (MTCR)-class missile programs. Since that time, it
has cooperated with the U.S., the U.K., the International Atomic
Energy Agency, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons toward these objectives. Libya has also signed the IAEA
Additional Protocol and has become a State Party to the Chemical
Weapons Convention. These were important steps toward full
diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Libya. |
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