Misplaced Pages

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141-697: Slavery in Libya has a long history and a lasting impact on the Libyan culture. It is closely connected with the wider context of slavery in North African and trans-Saharan slave trade . Since Ancient times, the territory of modern Libya was a transit area for the slave trade from Sub-Saharan Africa across the Sahara desert to the Mediterranean Sea . The Trans-Saharan slave trade was known from antiquity and continued until

282-563: A dictator , and was one of the world's longest serving non-royal leaders, ruling for 42 years. He ruled until being overthrown and killed during the 2011 Libyan Civil War , which was part of the wider Arab Spring , with authority transferred to the National Transitional Council then to the elected General National Congress . Since 2011, Libya has been involved in a political and humanitarian crisis , and by 2014, two rival authorities claimed to govern Libya, which led to

423-670: A reconnaissance mission heralding attacks on enemy targets. In the weeks that followed, US American forces were in the forefront of NATO operations against Libya. More than 8,000 US personnel in warships and aircraft were deployed in the area. At least 3,000 targets were struck in 14,202 strike sorties, 716 of them in Tripoli and 492 in Brega . The US air offensive included flights of B-2 Stealth bombers, each bomber armed with sixteen 2000-pound bombs, flying out of and returning to their base in Missouri in

564-455: A resistance leader against Italian colonization and became a national hero despite his capture and execution on 16 September 1931. His face is currently printed on the Libyan ten dinar note in memory and recognition of his patriotism. Another prominent resistance leader, Idris al-Mahdi as-Senussi (later King Idris I ), Emir of Cyrenaica, continued to lead the Libyan resistance until the outbreak of

705-500: A second civil war , with parts of Libya split between the Tobruk and Tripoli-based governments as well as various tribal and Islamist militias. The two main warring sides signed a permanent ceasefire in 2020, and a unity government took authority to plan for democratic elections, though political rivalries continue to delay this. In March 2022, the House of Representatives ceased recognising

846-606: A Coast Guard commander) and two Eritreans for their criminal leadership of slave trade networks. A 2023 report by the UN Human Rights Council warned that crimes against humanity were being committed by state security forces and militia groups against migrants in Libya, which included women being forced into sexual slavery . The report highlighted that the European Union contributed to these crimes by sending support to such forces. The governments of Burkina Faso and

987-512: A November 2017 slave auction in Libya, a human trafficker told Al-Jazeera that hundreds of migrants are bought and sold across the country every week. Migrants who have gone through Libyan detention centres have shown signs of many human rights abuses such as severe abuse, including electric shocks , burns, lashes and even skinning, stated the director of health services on the Italian island of Lampedusa to Euronews . A Libyan group known as

1128-602: A centre for the gold and slaves conveyed to the coast by the Garamentes , while Cyrenaica remained an important source of wines, drugs, and horses. When Amr ibn al-As conquered Tripoli in 643, he forced the Jewish and Christian Berbers to give their wives and children as slaves to the Arab army as part of their jizya . Uqba ibn Nafi would often enslave for himself (and to sell to others) countless Berber girls, "the likes of which no one in

1269-476: A child, or one of the incarcerated princes, who could only successfully leave their prisons with help from the outside. As a result, by the mid-18th century the power of the emperor had been largely transferred to his deputies, like Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray ( c.  1691 – 1779), who held actual power in the empire and elevated or deposed emperors at will. The emperors of Ethiopia derived their right to rule based on two dynastic claims: their descent from

1410-402: A costly royal government. The discovery of significant oil reserves in 1959 and the subsequent income from petroleum sales enabled one of the world's poorest nations to establish an extremely wealthy state. Although oil drastically improved the Libyan government's finances, popular resentment began to build over the increased concentration of the nation's wealth in the hands of King Idris and

1551-461: A fortress near Kairouan and took with him all the children as slaves. The number of Berbers enslaved "amounted to a number never before heard of in any of the countries subject to the rule of Islam" up to that time. As a result, "most of the African cities were depopulated, [and] the fields remained without cultivation." Even so, Musa "never ceased pushing his conquests until he arrived before Tangiers ,

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1692-469: A full-scale revolt beginning on 17 February . Libya's authoritarian regime led by Muammar Gaddafi put up much more of a resistance compared to the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. While overthrowing the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia was a relatively quick process, Gaddafi's campaign posed significant stalls on the uprising in Libya. The first announcement of a competing political authority appeared online and declared

1833-459: A girl slave for five pounds sterling while in 1923 he found that the price had risen to 30 to 40 pounds sterling. While the Trans-Saharan slave trade was still operating in the interior of Libya, were Italian control was weak or non-existing, chattel slavery also existed in the fully Italian controlled coastal areas of Libya long in to the colonial period, despite the slavery prohibition policy of

1974-457: A marriage. On 25 October 1975, a coup attempt was launched by a group of 20 military officers, mostly from the city of Misrata . This resulted in the arrest and executions of the coup plotters. In March 1977, Libya officially became the "Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya". Gaddafi officially passed power to the General People's Committees and henceforth claimed to be no more than

2115-596: A meeting in Paris. In April 2019, Khalifa Haftar launched Operation Flood of Dignity , in an offensive by the Libyan National Army aimed to seize Western territories from the Government of National Accord (GNA). In June 2019, forces allied to Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord successfully captured Gharyan, a strategic town where military commander Khalifa Haftar and his fighters were based. According to

2256-737: A new cabinet. On 14 October 2012, the General National Congress elected former GNC member and human rights lawyer Ali Zeidan as prime minister-designate. Zeidan was sworn in after his cabinet was approved by the GNC. On 11 March 2014, after having been ousted by the GNC for his inability to halt a rogue oil shipment, Prime Minister Zeidan stepped down, and was replaced by Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani . The Second Civil War began in May 2014 following fighting between rival parliaments with tribal militias and jihadist groups soon taking advantage of

2397-633: A number of historic sites. On 11 September 2012, Islamist militants mounted an attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi , killing the US ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens , and three others. The incident generated outrage in the United States and Libya. On 7 October 2012, Libya's Prime Minister-elect Mustafa A.G. Abushagur was ousted after failing a second time to win parliamentary approval for

2538-536: A period of military anarchy during which coup followed coup and few deys survived in office more than a year. One such coup was led by Turkish officer Ahmed Karamanli . The Karamanlis ruled from 1711 until 1835 mainly in Tripolitania, and had influence in Cyrenaica and Fezzan as well by the mid-18th century. Ahmed's successors proved to be less capable than himself, however, the region's delicate balance of power allowed

2679-627: A permanent ceasefire was signed to end the war. Emperor of Ethiopia The title " King of Kings ", often rendered imprecisely in English as " emperor ", dates back to ancient Mesopotamia , but was used in Axum by King Sembrouthes ( c.  250 AD ). However, Yuri Kobishchanov dates this usage to the period following the Persian victory over the Romans in 296–297. The most notable pre-Solomonic usage of

2820-420: A permanent constitution." The stated purpose of that process was "...intended to culminate in the creation of a modern, democratic state based on the principle of inclusion, the rule of law, separation of powers and respect for human rights." The SRSG praised the participants for achieving agreement, stating that "The Libyan people have unequivocally expressed themselves in favour of peace." The SRSG then informed

2961-424: A report claiming that 75% of the slaves are from southern Nigeria. It was unclear however whether his images were authentic. A Ghanaian lawyer, Bobby Banson, also claimed that the organs of the migrants were being harvested and they were not being sold for work. He requested African Union to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the slave trade. In 2017, the progressive media watchdog organization FAIR accused

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3102-863: A report in April 2017 showing that many of the migrants from West, Central and Sahelian Africa heading to Europe are sold as slaves after being detained by people smugglers or militia groups. African countries south of Libya were targeted for slave trading and transferred to Libyan slave markets instead. According to the victims, the price is higher for migrants with skills like painting and tiling. Slaves are often ransomed to their families and until ransom can be paid are tortured, forced to work, sometimes to death and eventually executed or left to starve if they can't pay for too long. Women are often raped and used as sex slaves and sold to brothels and private Libyan clients. Many child migrants also suffer from abuse and child rape in Libya. After receiving unverified CNN video of

3243-414: A spokesman for GNA forces, Mustafa al-Mejii, dozens of LNA fighters under Haftar were killed, while at least 18 were taken prisoner. In March 2020, UN-backed government of Fayez Al-Sarraj commenced Operation Peace Storm. The government initiated the bid in response to the state of assaults carried by Field Marshal Haftar 's LNA . "We are a legitimate, civilian government that respects its obligations to

3384-484: A symbolic figurehead. The new jamahiriya (Arab for "republic") governance structure he established was officially referred to as " direct democracy ". Gaddafi, in his vision of democratic government and political philosophy , published The Green Book in 1975. His short book inscribed a representative mix of utopian socialism and Arab nationalism with a streak of Bedouin supremacy. In February 1977, Libya started delivering military supplies to Goukouni Oueddei and

3525-593: A task force in Libya against migrant abuse. The task force's aim is to coordinate its work with the GNA to dismantle trafficking and criminal networks. It also aims to help countries of origin and transit hubs to tackle migration with development and stability. African and European leaders agreed on the same day to evacuate the migrants trapped in camps. Former Nigerian aviation minister Femi Fani-Kayode published images on Twitter claiming that slaves were having their organs harvested and some of their bodies are burnt. He also quoted

3666-586: Is located in northwestern Libya and contains over a million of Libya's seven million people. Libya has been inhabited by Berbers since the late Bronze Age as descendants from Iberomaurusian and Capsian cultures. In classical antiquity, the Phoenicians established city-states and trading posts in western Libya, while several Greek cities were established in the East. Parts of Libya were variously ruled by Carthaginians , Numidians , Persians , and Greeks before

3807-788: The 10th-largest proven oil reserves in the world. Libya is a member of the United Nations , the Non-Aligned Movement , the African Union , the Arab League , the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , and OPEC . The origin of the name "Libya" first appeared in an inscription of Ramesses II , written as rbw in hieroglyphic. The name derives from a generalized identity given to a large confederacy of ancient east "Libyan" Berbers , North African people(s) and tribes who lived around

3948-686: The Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads in 750, and Libya came under the rule of Baghdad. When Caliph Harun al-Rashid appointed Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab as his governor of Ifriqiya in 800, Libya enjoyed considerable local autonomy under the Aghlabid dynasty. By the 10th century, the Shiite Fatimids controlled Western Libya, and ruled the entire region in 972 and appointed Bologhine ibn Ziri as governor. Ibn Ziri's Berber Zirid dynasty ultimately broke away from

4089-650: The Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery in the 1930s that all former slaves in Italian Tripolitania - slavery in Libya was since long formally abolished - were free to leave their former Arab owners if they wished, but that they stayed because they were socially depressed; and that in the oases of Cyrenaica and the interiour of Sanusiya, the Trans-Saharan slave trade had been erased in parallel with Italian conquest, during which 900 slaves had been freed in

4230-496: The Arab world , and the 16th-largest in the world . Libya claims 32,000 square kilometres of southeastern Algeria, south of the Libyan town of Ghat . The country's official religion is Islam , with 96.6% of the Libyan population being Sunni Muslims . The official language of Libya is Arabic , with vernacular Libyan Arabic being spoken most widely. The majority of Libya's population is Arab . The largest city and capital, Tripoli ,

4371-774: The Democratic Republic of the Congo responded to the reports by recalling their ambassadors from Libya. The CNN report incited outrage. Hundreds of protesters, mostly young black people, protested in front of the Libyan embassy in central Paris , with French police firing tear gas to disperse them. Moussa Faki Mahamat , chairman of the African Union Commission , called the auctions "despicable". Protests also took place outside Libyan embassies in Bamako , Conakry and Yaoundé . UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that he

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4512-628: The First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War . By 1819, the various treaties of the Napoleonic Wars had forced the Barbary states to give up piracy almost entirely, and Tripolitania's economy began to crumble. As Yusuf weakened, factions sprung up around his three sons. Civil war soon resulted. Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II sent in troops ostensibly to restore order, marking the end of both

4653-444: The Government of National Unity and proclaimed an alternative government, the Government of National Stability (GNS). Both governments have been functioning simultaneously since then, which has led to dual power in Libya. The international community continues to recognise the unity government as the legitimate government of the country. Libya is a developing country ranking 92nd by HDI, the highest score in mainland Africa, and has

4794-674: The Great Karnak Inscription , the military alliance comprised the Meshwesh , the Lukka , and the "Sea Peoples" known as the Ekwesh , Teresh , Shekelesh , and the Sherden . The Great karnak inscription reads: "... the third season, saying: 'The wretched, fallen chief of Libya, Meryey, son of Ded, has fallen upon the country of Tehenu with his bowmen — Sherden, Shekelesh, Ekwesh, Lukka, Teresh. Taking

4935-523: The Interim Transitional National Council as an alternative government. One of Gaddafi's senior advisors responded by posting a tweet, wherein he resigned, defected, and advised Gaddafi to flee. By 20 February, the unrest had spread to Tripoli. On 27 February 2011, the National Transitional Council was established to administer the areas of Libya under rebel control. On 10 March 2011, the United States and many other nations recognised

5076-541: The Italian Libya colony from 1934 to 1943. During World War II , Libya was an area of warfare in the North African Campaign . The Italian population then went into decline. Libya became independent as a kingdom in 1951. A bloodless military coup in 1969 , initiated by a coalition led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi , overthrew King Idris I and created a republic . Gaddafi was often described by critics as

5217-502: The Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912), Italy simultaneously turned the three regions into colonies. From 1912 to 1927, the territory of Libya was known as Italian North Africa . From 1927 to 1934, the territory was split into two colonies, Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania , run by Italian governors. Some 150,000 Italians settled in Libya, constituting roughly 20% of the total population. Omar Mukhtar rose to prominence as

5358-519: The National Transitional Council estimated 50,000 wounded. Following the defeat of loyalist forces, Libya was torn among numerous rival, armed militias affiliated with distinct regions, cities and tribes, while the central government had been weak and unable to effectively exert its authority over the country. Competing militias pitted themselves against each other in a political struggle between Islamist politicians and their opponents. On 7 July 2012, Libyans held their first parliamentary elections since

5499-638: The People's Armed Forces in Chad. The Chadian–Libyan War began in earnest when Libya's support of rebel forces in northern Chad escalated into an invasion . Later that same year, Libya and Egypt fought a four-day border war that came to be known as the Egyptian–Libyan War . Both nations agreed to a ceasefire under the mediation of the Algerian president Houari Boumédiène . Hundreds of Libyans lost their lives in

5640-572: The Second Italo-Ethiopian War . Italian successes in the war caused the emperor Haile Selassie to be voted into exile by his nobles in 1936; he pled Ethiopia's case against Italy before the League of Nations , but aid from the League was not forthcoming. Italy added Ethiopia to its already existing colonies of Eritrea and Italian Somalia, creating the new dependent state of Italian East Africa and

5781-701: The Second World War . The so-called " pacification of Libya " by the Italians resulted in mass deaths of the indigenous people in Cyrenaica, killing approximately one quarter of Cyrenaica's population of 225,000. Ilan Pappé estimates that between 1928 and 1932 the Italian military "killed half the Bedouin population (directly or through disease and starvation in Italian concentration camps in Libya )." In 1934, Italy combined Cyrenaica , Tripolitania and Fezzan and adopted

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5922-560: The Spanish Empire and the Knights of St John occupied Tripoli until Ottoman rule began in 1551 . Libya was involved in the Barbary Wars of the 18th and 19th centuries. Ottoman rule continued until the Italo-Turkish War , which resulted in the Italian occupation of Libya and the establishment of two colonies, Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica (1911–1934), later unified in

6063-535: The Tulunids , Ikhshidids , Ayyubids, and Mamluks before Ottoman conquest in 1517. Fezzan acquired independence under Awlad Muhammad dynasty after Kanem rule. Ottomans finally conquered Fezzan between 1556 and 1577. After a successful invasion of Tripoli by Habsburg Spain in 1510, and its handover to the Knights of St. John , the Ottoman admiral Sinan Pasha took control of Libya in 1551. His successor Turgut Reis

6204-550: The ancient Greeks colonized the area around Barca in Eastern Libya and founded the city of Cyrene . Within 200 years, four more important Greek cities were established in the area that became known as Cyrenaica . The area was home to the renowned philosophy school of the Cyrenaics . In 525 BC the Persian army of Cambyses II overran Cyrenaica, which for the next two centuries remained under Persian or Egyptian rule. Alexander

6345-411: The bombing of a commercial flight at Lockerbie in 1988 killed 270 people. In the 1990s, the government's rule was threatened by militant Islamism and an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Gaddafi. The government responded with repressive measures. Riots and Islamic activisim were crushed by Revolutionary Guard Corps . Nevertheless, Cyrenaica between 1995 and 1998 was politically unstable, due to

6486-467: The "Day of Friendship" because of improvement in Italy–Libya relations . Libya's increase in prosperity was accompanied by increased internal political repression, and political dissent was made illegal under Law 75 of 1973. Widespread surveillance of the population was carried out through Gaddafi's Revolutionary Committees. Gaddafi also wanted to ease the strict social restrictions imposed on women by

6627-699: The ' Zemene Mesafint ' (Era of the Princes). Emperor Yohannes IV defeated an invading Egyptian army in modern day Eritrea and died while working to address the situation regarding the Mahdist presence in Ethiopia. Emperor Menelik II achieved a major military victory against Italian invaders in March 1896 at the Battle of Adwa and conquered the modern borders of Ethiopia. Italy under Benito Mussolini attacked Ethiopia in 1935, starting

6768-521: The 16th and 19th century. Reports of Barbary raids and kidnappings of those in Italy , France , Iberia , England , Ireland , Scotland and as far north as Iceland exist from this period. Famous accounts of Barbary slave raids include a mention in the Diary of Samuel Pepys and a raid on the coastal village of Baltimore , Ireland, during which pirates left with the entire populace of the settlement. Such raids in

6909-412: The 1830s – a period when slave trade flourished – Ghadames was handling 2,500 slaves a year. The regency of Tripoli was subjected to Western pressure to end the flourishing Trans-Saharan slave trade by the 1840s, but the ruler, though he explained himself willing in 1842, could not persuade the chiefs of the interior, who were major players in the Trans-Saharan slave trade between Bornu and Sokoto to

7050-475: The 20th-century. Slavery in Ottoman Libya was nominally prohibited in the 19th-century, but the abolition laws were not enforced. During the Italian colonial period (1912–1951) the slavery and slave trade was finally suppressed in practice. Abolition was, however, a gradual and slow process, and the institution of slavery continued long into the colonial period, particularly in the interior desert areas, where

7191-595: The 7th to 15th centuries. In the 15th century, Ethiopians sold slaves from western borderland areas (usually just outside the realm of the Emperor of Ethiopia ) or Ennarea . European slaves where also traded South: in the 17th-century, European slaves are noted to have been imported to the Sub-Saharan African Bornu Empire from Tripoli in Libya. It is estimated that between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by pirates and sold as slaves between

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7332-452: The Asma Boys have antagonized migrants from other parts of Africa from at least as early as 2000, destroying their property. Nigerian migrants in January 2018 gave accounts of abuses in detention centres, including being leased or sold as slaves. Videos of Sudanese migrants being burnt and whipped for ransom, were released later on by their families on social media. In June 2018, the United Nations applied sanctions against four Libyans (including

7473-411: The Bardo Museum in Tunisia on 18 March 2015 was reportedly carried out by two Libyan-trained militants. During 2015 an extended series of diplomatic meetings and peace negotiations were supported by the United Nations, as conducted by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), Spanish diplomat Bernardino León . UN support for the SRSG-led process of dialogue carried on in addition to

7614-417: The Berbers of the coast and of the interior, they hastened to ask for peace and place themselves under the obedience of Musa, whom they solicited to enlist them in the ranks of his army There is historical evidence of North African Muslim slave raids all along the Mediterranean coasts across Christian Europe. The majority of slaves traded across the Mediterranean region were predominantly of European origin from

7755-432: The Great ended Persian rule in 331 BC and received tribute from Cyrenaica. Eastern Libya again fell under the control of the Greeks, this time as part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom . After the fall of Carthage the Romans did not immediately occupy Tripolitania (the region around Tripoli), but left it instead under control of the kings of Numidia , until the coastal cities asked and obtained its protection. Ptolemy Apion ,

7896-422: The Italian control was weak. The Trans-Saharan slave trade in the interior of Libya was still in operation as late as the 1930s. In the 21st-century, the Libyan slave trade of Africans across the Sahara continues, with open-air slave markets reported in a number of cities in Libya, including the capital city, Tripoli . As a Roman province , Tripolitania was a major exporter of agricultural products, as well as

8037-534: The Italians. African slaves were still used as domestic house slaves in affluent Libyan private households in big coastal cities as Benghazi as late as in the 1920s. The Danish convert to Islam Knud Holmboe , crossed the Italian Libyan desert in 1930, and was told that slavery is still practiced in Kufra and that he could buy a slave girl for 30 pounds sterling at the Thursday slave market . According to James Richardson 's testimony, when he visited Ghadames, most slaves were from Bornu . The Italians reported to

8178-455: The Karamanli dynasty and an independent Tripolitania. Order was not recovered easily, and the revolt of the Libyan under Abd-El-Gelil and Gûma ben Khalifa lasted until the death of the latter in 1858. The second period of direct Ottoman rule saw administrative changes, and greater order in the governance of the three provinces of Libya. Ottoman rule finally reasserted to Fezzan between 1850 and 1875 for earning income from Saharan commerce. After

8319-417: The Karamanli. The 1793–95 Tripolitanian civil war occurred in those years. In 1793, Turkish officer Ali Pasha deposed Hamet Karamanli and briefly restored Tripolitania to Ottoman rule. Hamet's brother Yusuf (r. 1795–1832) re-established Tripolitania's independence. In the early 19th century war broke out between the United States and Tripolitania, and a series of battles ensued in what came to be known as

8460-623: The Kufra slave market. Human Rights Watch documented cases of migrants frequently being arbitrarily detained and sold in Libyan detention centers. Amnesty International also noted that migrants traveling through Libya were subject to detention in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions, and torture. The US state department also noted in their 2010 report on human trafficking: "As in previous years, there were isolated reports that women from West and Central Africa were forced into prostitution in Libya. There were also reports that migrants from Georgia were subjected to forced labor in Libya," and argued that

8601-521: The Libyan ambassador for consultations. France on 22 November 2017 sought an emergency meeting of UN Security Council , while President Emmanuel Macron called the footage "scandalous" and "unacceptable." He called the auctions a crime against humanity. President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari stated that Nigerians were being treated like goats and stated stranded Nigerian migrants in Libya will be brought back. The African Union , European Union and United Nations agreed on 30 November 2017 to set up

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8742-409: The Libyan coast. Even though the slave trade was officially abolished in Tripoli by the Firman of 1857 , this law was never enforced, and continued in practice at least until the 1890s. The British Consul in Benghazi wrote in 1875 that the slave trade had reached an enormous scale and that the slaves who were sold in Alexandria and Constantinople had quadrupled in price. This trade, he wrote,

8883-445: The Libyan government did not show significant evidence of effort to prosecute traffickers or protect trafficking victims. Since the overthrow of the Gaddafi government after the First Libyan Civil War in 2011, Libya has been plagued by disorder, leaving migrants with little cash and no papers vulnerable. Libya is a major exit point for African migrants heading to Europe. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) published

9024-418: The Mediterranean were so frequent and devastating that the coastline between Venice and Malaga suffered widespread depopulation, and settlement there was discouraged. It was said that this was largely because "there was no one left to capture any longer". The Tuareg and others who are indigenous to Libya facilitated, taxed and partly organized the trade from the south along the trans-Saharan trade routes . In

9165-401: The Ottoman Empire from 1551 to 1911 as the Eyalet of Tripolitania. Libya gained independence in 1951 as the United Libyan Kingdom ( المملكة الليبية المتحدة al-Mamlakah al-Lībiyyah al-Muttaḥidah ), changing its name to the Kingdom of Libya ( المملكة الليبية al-Mamlakah al-Lībiyyah ), literally "Libyan Kingdom", in 1963. Following a coup d'état led by Muammar Gaddafi in 1969,

9306-602: The Security Council that "Libya is at a critical stage" and urging "all parties in Libya to continue to engage constructively in the dialogue process", stating that "only through dialogue and political compromise, can a peaceful resolution of the conflict be achieved. A peaceful transition will only succeed in Libya through a significant and coordinated effort in supporting a future Government of National Accord...". Talks, negotiations and dialogue continued on during mid-2015 at various international locations, culminating at Skhirat in Morocco in early September. Also in 2015, as part of

9447-421: The Senussi at a young age. He spent a considerable period of exile in Egypt under Italian rule and returned to Libya after the Axis powers were ousted in 1943. On December 24, 1951, as King Idris I, he addressed the nation via radio from Benghazi . On November 21, 1949, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution stating that Libya should become independent before January 1, 1952. Idris represented Libya in

9588-400: The Shewan Branch (junior only to the Gondar line), ascended the imperial throne following Emperor Yohannes IV's death and thus, purporting to restore the male-line Solomonic tradition, for which he adopted the throne name of Menelik II. The Emperor Tewodros spent his youth fighting with invading Ottoman Egyptians (termed 'Turks' by the Ethiopians), then unifying the empire after the dark age of

9729-408: The Shiite Fatimids, and recognized the Sunni Abbasids of Baghdad as rightful Caliphs. In retaliation, the Fatimids brought about the migration of thousands from mainly two Arab Qaisi tribes, the Banu Sulaym and Banu Hilal to North Africa. This act drastically altered the fabric of the Libyan countryside, and cemented the cultural and linguistic Arabisation of the region. Zirid rule in Tripolitania

9870-437: The UN Security Council passed Resolution 1973 , with a 10–0 vote and five abstentions including Russia, China, India, Brazil and Germany. The resolution sanctioned the establishment of a no-fly zone and the use of "all means necessary" to protect civilians within Libya. On 19 March, the first act of NATO allies to secure the no-fly zone began by destroying Libyan air defenses when French military jets entered Libyan airspace on

10011-406: The United Nations informed the United Nations that the country's official name was henceforth the "State of Libya"; "Libya" remained the official short form, and the country continued to be listed under "L" in alphabetical lists. The coastal plain of Libya was inhabited by Neolithic peoples from as early as 8000 BC. The Afroasiatic ancestors of the Berber people are assumed to have spread into

10152-408: The abbot of the monastery on Debre Damo knew of no such tale. Taddesse Tamrat argues that this practice began in the reign of Wedem Arad (1299–1314), following the struggle for succession that he believes lies behind the series of brief reigns of the sons of Yagbe'u Seyon (reigned 1285–1294). A constructivist approach states that the tradition was used on occasion, weakened or lapsed sometimes, and

10293-518: The aforementioned emperor's daughters. After Emperor Tewodros' reign, one of the many rebels leaders that helped the British in their expedition into Abyssinia was Dejazmatch Kassa, he was rewarded with articles of war for his services and went on to assume power through his claim of Solomonic descent from his mothers Gondarian ancestry and was crowned Emperor Yohannes IV . Sahle Maryam of Shewa, who descended from Solomonic emperors directly paternally through

10434-609: The area by the Late Bronze Age . The earliest known name of such a tribe was the Garamantes , based in Germa . The Phoenicians were the first to establish trading posts in Libya. By the 5th century BC, the greatest of the Phoenician colonies, Carthage , had extended its hegemony across much of North Africa, where a distinctive civilization, known as Punic , came into being. In 630 BC,

10575-419: The best of every warrior and every man of war of his country. He has brought his wife and his children — leaders of the camp, and he has reached the western boundary in the fields of Perire." The name "Libya" was brought back into use in 1903 by Italian geographer Federico Minutilli. It was intended to supplant terms applied to Ottoman Tripolitania , the coastal region of what is today Libya, having been ruled by

10716-490: The citadel of their [Berbers’] country and the mother of their cities, which he also besieged and took, obliging its inhabitants to embrace Islam." The historian Pascual de Gayangos observed: “Owing to the system of warfare adopted by the Arabs, it is not improbable that the number of captives here specified fell into Musa’s hands. It appears both from Christian and Arabian authorities that populous towns were not infrequently razed to

10857-578: The command of Amr ibn al-As , the Rashidun army conquered Cyrenaica . In 647 an army led by Abdullah ibn Saad took Tripoli from the Byzantines definitively. The Fezzan was conquered by Uqba ibn Nafi in 663. The Berber tribes of the hinterland accepted Islam, however they resisted Arab political rule. For the next several decades, Libya was under the purview of the Umayyad Caliph of Damascus until

10998-471: The continental United States. The support provided by the NATO air forces contributed to the ultimate success of the revolution. By 22 August 2011, rebel fighters had entered Tripoli and occupied Green Square , which they renamed Martyrs' Square in honour of those killed since 17 February 2011. On 20 October 2011, the last heavy fighting of the uprising came to an end in the city of Sirte . The Battle of Sirte

11139-484: The council headed by Mahmoud Jibril as acting prime minister and as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people and withdrawing the recognition of Gaddafi's regime. Pro-Gaddafi forces were able to respond militarily to rebel pushes in Western Libya and launched a counterattack along the coast toward Benghazi, the de facto centre of the uprising. The town of Zawiya , 48 kilometres (30 mi) from Tripoli,

11280-518: The country rose to more than US$ 11,000, the fifth-highest in Africa, while the Human Development Index became the highest in Africa and greater than that of Saudi Arabia . This was achieved without borrowing any foreign loans, keeping Libya debt-free . The Great Manmade River was also built to allow free access to fresh water across large parts of the country. In addition, financial support

11421-475: The country's support for Idi Amin 's Uganda in its war against Tanzania . Gaddafi financed various other groups from anti-nuclear movements to Australian trade unions. On 2 March 1977, Libya officially became Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Libya adopted its plain green national flag on 19 November 1977. The country had the only plain-coloured flag in the world until 2011, when Libya adopted its current flag. From 1977 onward, per capita income in

11562-598: The distaff side. The claim of descent from Menelik I is based on the assertion that the kings of Axum were also the descendants of Menelik I; its definitive and best-known formulation is set forth in the Kebra Nagast . However, there is no historical evidence supporting the legends or Yekuno Amlak's ancestry. There is no credible basis to the claims that the Aksumite royal house was descended from Solomon (or that any Aksumite king even claimed such an ancestry) or that Yekuno Amlak

11703-523: The dynasty of Menelik I, son of Queen of Ethiopia, the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon of Jerusalem". The Solomonic dynasty , which claimed descent from the old Aksumite rulers, ruled Ethiopia from the 13th century until 1974. The Amhara warrior turned emperor, Kassa of Qwara , Gonder , in 1855 took complete control over Ethiopia and was crowned Emperor Tewodros II . Of the valley nobility, he claimed paternal descent from Emperor Fasilides, by way of one of

11844-483: The east , Sudan to the southeast , Chad to the south , Niger to the southwest , Algeria to the west , and Tunisia to the northwest , as well as maritime borders with Greece , Italy and Malta to the north. Libya comprises three historical regions: Tripolitania , Fezzan , and Cyrenaica . With an area of almost 1.8 million km (700,000 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest country in Africa and

11985-404: The elections, to the consternation of Islamist lawmakers in the GNC, who reconvened and declared a continuing mandate for the GNC, refusing to recognise the new House of Representatives. Armed supporters of the General National Congress occupied Tripoli, forcing the newly elected parliament to flee to Tobruk . In January 2015, meetings were held with the aim to find a peaceful agreement between

12126-515: The empire with revolts or to dispute the succession of an heir apparent . Ethiopian traditions do not all agree as to exactly when the custom started of imprisoning rivals to the throne on a "Mountain of the Princes". One tradition credits this practice to the Zagwe king Yemrehana Krestos (fl. 11th century), who allegedly received the idea in a dream; Taddesse Tamrat discredits this tradition, arguing that

12267-664: The end of the civil war, unnamed organized assailants bulldozed a Sufi mosque with graves in the centre of the Libyan capital Tripoli . It was the second such razing of a Sufi site in two days. Numerous acts of vandalism and destruction of heritage were carried out by suspected Islamist militias, including the removal of the Nude Gazelle Statue and the destruction and desecration of World War II-era British grave sites near Benghazi. Many other cases of heritage vandalism were reported to be carried out by Islamist-related radical militias and mobs that either destroyed, robbed, or looted

12408-404: The end of the former regime. On 8 August, the National Transitional Council officially handed power over to the wholly-elected General National Congress , which was then tasked with the formation of an interim government and the drafting of a new Libyan Constitution to be approved in a general referendum . On 25 August 2012, in what Reuters reported as "the most blatant sectarian attack" since

12549-629: The entire region becoming a part of the Roman Empire . Libya was an early centre of Christianity . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the area of Libya was mostly occupied by the Vandals until the 7th century when invasions brought Islam to the region. From then on, centuries of Arab migration to the Maghreb shifted the demographic scope of Libya in favour of Arabs . In the 16th century,

12690-462: The government in Tripoli. European slaves and large numbers of enslaved Blacks transported from Sudan were also a feature of everyday life in Tripoli. In 1551, Turgut Reis enslaved almost the entire population of the Maltese island of Gozo , some 5,000 people, sending them to Libya. In time, real power came to rest with the pasha's corps of janissaries . In 1611 the deys staged a coup against

12831-506: The governor of Africa in 698, and who "was cruel and ruthless against any tribe that opposed the tenets of the Muslim faith, but generous and lenient to those who converted." Muslim historian Ibn Qutaybah recounts Musa ibn Nusayr waging "battles of extermination" against the Berbers and how he "killed myriads of them, and made a surprising number of prisoners." According to the historian As-sadfi,

12972-455: The ground and their inhabitants, amounting to several thousands, led into captivity.” Successive Muslim rulers of North Africa continued to enslave the Berbers en masse. The historian Hugh N. Kennedy observed that "the Islamic jihad looks uncomfortably like a giant slave trade." Arab chronicles record vast numbers of Berber slaves taken, especially in the accounts of Musa ibn Nusayr , who became

13113-415: The honorific title of nəgus , a word for "king." The consort of the emperor was referred to as the ətege . Empress Zewditu used the feminized form nəgəstä nägäst ("Queen of Kings") to show that she reigned in her own right, and did not use the title of ətege . On the death of a monarch any male or female descendant of the various dynastic lines could claim succession to the throne. Though in many cases

13254-672: The international community, but is committed primarily to its people and has an obligation to protect its citizens," Sarraj said in line with his decision. On 28 August 2020, the BBC Africa Eye and BBC Arabic Documentaries revealed that a drone operated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) killed 26 young cadets at a military academy in Tripoli , on 4 January. Most of the cadets were teenagers and none of them were armed. The Chinese-made drone Wing Loong II fired Blue Arrow 7 missile, which

13395-524: The kings of Axum , and their descent from Menelik I , the legendary son of Solomon and Makeda, Queen of Sheba . The claim to their relationship to the Kings of Axum derives from Yakuno Amlak's claim that he was the descendant of Dil Na'od , through his father, although he defeated and killed the last Zagwe king in battle. His claim to the throne was also helped by his marriage to that king's daughter, even though Ethiopians commonly do not acknowledge claims from

13536-474: The kings of Aksum and the new Solomonic dynasty is highly improbable and unsupported by evidence. It is a myth. Although the story originated as a medieval political myth, it nevertheless became embedded in the Ethiopian sense of nationhood. This and the dynasty's continued propagation of the myth was reflected in the 1955 Ethiopian constitution , which declared that the emperor "descends without interruption from

13677-583: The last Greek ruler, bequeathed Cyrenaica to Rome, which formally annexed the region in 74 BC and joined it to Crete as a Roman province . As part of the Africa Nova province, Tripolitania was prosperous, and reached a golden age in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, when the city of Leptis Magna , home to the Severan dynasty , was at its height. On the Eastern side, Cyrenaica's first Christian communities were established by

13818-683: The later establishment of the Tunisian Hafsid Kingdom independent from the Almohads. In the 14th century, the Banu Thabit dynasty ruled Tripolitania before reverting to direct Hafsid control. By the 16th century, the Hafsids became increasingly caught up in the power struggle between Spain and the Ottoman Empire . After Abbasid control was weakened, Cyrenaica was under Egypt-based states such as

13959-399: The lowest income per capita figures globally, it also suffered from one of the highest illiteracy rates. King Idris I, already in his sixties, had no direct heir to succeed him. His cousin, whom he had married in 1932, reportedly experienced numerous miscarriages, and their son, born in 1953, tragically died shortly after birth. Crown Prince Rida, Idris's brother, was the designated heir, but

14100-454: The lush regions of Cyrenaica and Marmarica . An army of 40,000 men and a confederacy of tribes known as "Great Chiefs of the Libu " were led by King Meryey who fought a war against pharaoh Merneptah in year 5 (1208 BCE). This conflict was mentioned in the Great Karnak Inscription in the western delta during the 5th and 6th years of his reign and resulted in a defeat for Meryey. According to

14241-562: The mainstream media in Western nations of whitewashing the role NATO and the United States played in the resurgence of open slave markets in Libya, following the NATO-led ousting of Muammar Qadhafi in 2011. In November 2017, the National Commission for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL) claimed that the media reports of slavery in Libya were exaggerated, and that while slavery existed in Libya, it

14382-562: The name "Libya" (used by the Ancient Greeks for all of North Africa except Egypt) for the unified colony, with Tripoli as its capital. The Italians emphasized infrastructure improvements and public works. In particular, they greatly expanded Libyan railway and road networks from 1934 to 1940, building hundreds of kilometres of new roads and railways and encouraging the establishment of new industries and dozens of new agricultural villages. In June 1940, Italy entered World War II . Libya became

14523-656: The name of the state was changed to the Libyan Arab Republic ( الجمهورية العربية الليبية al-Jumhūriyyah al-'Arabiyyah al-Lībiyyah ). The official name was "Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" from 1977 to 1986 ( الجماهيرية العربية الليبية الشعبية الاشتراكية ), and "Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" ( الجماهيرية العربية الليبية الشعبية الاشتراكية العظمى , al-Jamāhīriyyah al-'Arabiyyah al-Lībiyyah ash-Sha'biyyah al-Ishtirākiyyah al-'Udmá listen ) from 1986 to 2011. The National Transitional Council , established in 2011, referred to

14664-608: The national elite. This discontent continued to mount with the rise of Nasserism and Arab nationalism throughout North Africa and the Middle East . On 1 September 1969, a group of rebel military officers led by Muammar Gaddafi launched a coup d'état against King Idris , which became known as the Al Fateh Revolution. Gaddafi was referred to as the " Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution " in government statements and

14805-424: The number of slaves taken by Musa ibn Nusayr was greater than in any of the previous Islamic conquests. Musa went out against the Berbers, and pursued them far into their native deserts, leaving wherever he went traces of his passage, killing numbers of them, taking thousands of prisoners, and carrying on the work of havoc and destruction. When the nations inhabiting the dreary plains of Africa saw what had befallen

14946-465: The official Libyan press. He began dominating history and politics of Libya for the next four decades. Moving to reduce Italian influence, in October 1970 all Italian-owned assets were expropriated and the 12,000-strong Italian community was expelled from Libya alongside the smaller community of Italian Libyan Jews . The day became a national holiday known as " Day of Revenge "; it was later renamed

15087-720: The ongoing support from the international community, the UN Human Rights Council requested a report about the Libyan situation and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein , established an investigative body (OIOL) to report on human rights and rebuilding the Libyan justice system. Chaos-ridden Libya emerged as a major transit point for people trying to reach Europe . Between 2013 and 2018, nearly 700,000 migrants reached Italy by boat, many of them from Libya. In May 2018 Libya's rival leaders agreed to hold parliamentary and presidential elections following

15228-455: The pasha, and Dey Sulayman Safar was appointed as head of government. For the next hundred years, a series of deys effectively ruled Tripolitania. The two most important Deys were Mehmed Saqizli (r. 1631–49) and Osman Saqizli (r. 1649–72), both also Pasha, who ruled effectively the region. The latter conquered also Cyrenaica. Lacking direction from the Ottoman government, Tripoli lapsed into

15369-658: The power vacuum. Most notably, radical Islamist fighters seized Derna in 2014 and Sirte in 2015 in the name of the Islamic State . In February 2015, neighbouring Egypt launched airstrikes against IS in support of the Tobruk government. In June 2014, elections were held to the House of Representatives , a new legislative body intended to take over from the General National Congress . The elections were marred by violence and low turnout, with voting stations closed in some areas. Secularists and liberals did well in

15510-400: The practice favoured primogeniture for at least one subsequent succession to the imperial throne, it often, as in the case of Emperor Yohannes IV of Tigray's claim to the throne after the death of Emperor Tewodros II from Gondar , would leave the direct lineage of one royal family in favor of another. The system developed two approaches to controlling the succession: the first involved

15651-463: The previous regime, establishing the Revolutionary Women's Formation to encourage reform. In 1970, a law was introduced affirming equality of the sexes and wage parity. In 1971, Gaddafi sponsored the creation of a Libyan General Women's Federation. In 1972, a law was passed criminalizing the marriage of girls under the age of sixteen and making the woman's consent a necessary prerequisite for

15792-508: The records of the Zagwe dynasty betray too many disputed successions for this to have been the case. Another tradition, recorded by historian Thomas Pakenham , states that this practice predates the Zagwe dynasty (which ruled from c.  900 AD ), and was first practiced on Debre Damo , which was captured by the 10th-century queen Yodit or " Gudit ", who then isolated 200 princes there to death; however, Pakenham also notes that when questioned,

15933-403: The reign of Fasilides (1632–1667) until the mid-18th century, at Wehni . Rumors of these royal mountain residences were part of the inspiration for Samuel Johnson 's short story, Rasselas . Although the emperor of Ethiopia had theoretically unlimited power over his subjects, his councillors came to play an increasing role in governing Ethiopia, because many emperors were succeeded either by

16074-521: The removal of some aspects of foreign control in 1947. Under the terms of the 1947 peace treaty with the Allies , Italy relinquished all claims to Libya. A national assembly crafted a constitution that established a monarchy and extended an offer for the throne to Sayyid Idris , the Emir of Cyrenaica . Sayyid Idris held the esteemed position as the leader of the influential Senussi religious brotherhood , which

16215-452: The rival parties in Libya. The so-called Geneva-Ghadames talks were supposed to bring the GNC and the Tobruk government together at one table to find a solution of the internal conflict. However, the GNC actually never participated, a sign that internal division not only affected the "Tobruk Camp", but also the "Tripoli Camp". Meanwhile, terrorism within Libya steadily increased, also affecting neighbouring countries. The terrorist attack against

16356-460: The royal family was riddled with incessant disputes. King Idris's devout Muslim piety, which solidified his support among the Bedouin population , clashed with the modernizing and urban intellectual currents in Libya. To address the rivalry between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, Benghazi and Tripoli alternated as the capital every two years. The swift emergence of a large number of bureaucrats resulted in

16497-480: The selection of emperors by a council of vassal regional royals and powerful clergy members from throughout the country who supported their claim to the Imperial throne; the combined military and religious strength would use their influence to contain and put down any competing claims. The second involved interning all of the emperor's possible rivals in a secure location, which drastically limited their ability to disrupt

16638-553: The setting for the hard-fought North African Campaign that ultimately ended in defeat for Italy and its German ally in 1943. From 1943 to 1951, Libya was under Allied occupation . The British military administered the two former Italian Libyan provinces of Tripolitana and Cyrenaïca, while the French administered the province of Fezzan. In 1944, Idris returned from exile in Cairo but declined to resume permanent residence in Cyrenaica until

16779-873: The side of the Axis Powers in World War II , the African part of the British Empire aided Haile Selassie and anti-Italian Ethiopian forces in the East African campaign . Italy was defeated and Selassie restored to the throne, with most combat in Ethiopia ending in 1941. The Armistice of Cassibile was signed in September 1943 with the Kingdom of Italy's surrender, and Victor Emmanuel III officially renounced his title as emperor of Ethiopia in November 1943. In January 1942, Haile Selassie

16920-509: The state as simply "Libya". The UN formally recognized the country as "Libya" in September 2011 based on a request from the Permanent Mission of Libya citing the Libyan interim Constitutional Declaration of 3 August 2011. In November 2011, the ISO 3166-1 was altered to reflect the new country name "Libya" in English, "Libye (la)" in French. In December 2017 the Permanent Mission of Libya to

17061-465: The subsequent UN negotiations. By December 24, 1951, Libya declared its independence as the United Kingdom of Libya , a constitutional and hereditary monarchy under King Idris . However, the new kingdom faced challenging prospects. It lacked significant industry and agricultural resources. The kingdom's primary exports consisted of hides, wool, horses, and ostrich feathers. Despite having one of

17202-501: The throne to Selassie's son Amha Selassie , who – understandably mistrustful of the Derg – refused to return to Ethiopia to rule. The Derg abolished the monarchy on 21 March 1975. In April 1989, Amha Selassie was proclaimed emperor in exile at London, with his succession backdated to the date of Haile Selassie's death in August 1975 rather than his deposition in September 1974. In 1993 a group called

17343-549: The time of the Emperor Claudius . It was heavily devastated during the Kitos War and almost depopulated of Greeks and Jews alike. Although repopulated by Trajan with military colonies, from then started its decline. Libya was early to convert to Nicene Christianity and was the home of Pope Victor I ; however, Libya was also home to many non-Nicene varieties of early Christianity, such as Arianism and Donatism . Under

17484-469: The title "Negusa Nagast" was by Ezana of Axum; despite this, prior to the beginning of the Solomonic Dynasty , most Axumite and Zagwe rulers went by negus . Its use meant that both subordinate officials and tributary rulers, notably the gubernatorial vassals of Gojjam (who ranked 12th in the states non-dynastic protocol as per 1690), Welega , the seaward provinces and later Shewa , received

17625-456: The tribal allegiances of the local troops. In 2003, Gaddafi announced that all of his regime's weapons of mass destruction were disassembled, and that Libya was transitioning toward nuclear power . The first civil war came during the Arab Spring movements which overturned the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt . Libya first experienced protests against Gaddafi's regime on 15 February 2011, with

17766-540: The usual work of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). In July 2015 SRSG Leon reported to the UN Security Council on the progress of the negotiations, which at that point had just achieved a political agreement on 11 July setting out "a comprehensive framework... includ[ing] guiding principles... institutions and decision-making mechanisms to guide the transition until the adoption of

17907-535: The world had ever seen." Ibn Abd al-Hakam recounts that the Arab General Hassan ibn al-Nu'man would often abduct "young, female Berber slaves of unparalleled beauty, some of which were worth a thousand dinars." Al-Hakam confirms that up to one hundred thousand slaves were captured by Musa and his son and nephew during the conquest of North Africa. In Tangier , Musa enslaved all the Berber inhabitants. Musa sacked

18048-504: Was also rare as well. Slave auctions, the commission said, are "such rare sights" and "are very discrete and clandestine". The commission also called for the Libyan government to stamp out the illegal practice of slavery as well. Libya Libya , officially the State of Libya , is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa . It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to

18189-577: Was bombarded by air force planes and army tanks and seized by Jamahiriya troops , "exercising a level of brutality not yet seen in the conflict." Organizations of the United Nations, including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Human Rights Council , condemned the crackdown as violating international law, with the latter body expelling Libya outright in an unprecedented action. On 17 March 2011

18330-474: Was both the last decisive battle and the last one in general of the First Libyan Civil War where Gaddafi was captured and killed by NATO -backed forces on 20 October 2011. Sirte was the last Gaddafi loyalist stronghold and his place of birth. The defeat of loyalist forces was celebrated on 23 October 2011, three days after the fall of Sirte. At least 30,000 Libyans died in the civil war. In addition,

18471-474: Was descended from the Aksumite royal house. Solomon is dated to the 10th century BCE, hundreds of years before the founding of Aksum. Historian Harold G. Marcus describes the stories of the Kebra Nagast as a "pastiche of legends" created to legitimize Yekuno Amlak's seizure of power. David Northrup notes that the Kebra Nagast's imaginative and emotive account of a line of descent from Solomon and Sheba to

18612-554: Was encouraged by the local government . Adolf Vischer writes in an article published in 1911 that: "...it has been said that slave traffic is still going on on the Benghazi- Wadai route, but it is difficult to test the truth of such an assertion as, in any case, the traffic is carried on secretly". At Kufra , the Egyptian traveller Ahmed Hassanein Bey found out in 1916 that he could buy

18753-466: Was founded by his grandfather in the preceding century as a response to Western influence in the Arab world . This devout Islamic movement garnered significant support from the desert Bedouin and became a major political force in Libya. During the declining years of the Ottoman Empire , it effectively governed the Libyan interior. Born in an oasis in Cyrenaica in 1890, Sayyid Idris assumed leadership of

18894-595: Was horrified by the auction footage and these crimes should be investigated as possible crimes against humanity. Hundreds protested outside the Libyan Embassy on 9 December 2017 in London. President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou summoned the Libyan ambassador and demanded the International Court of Justice to investigate Libya for slave trade. Foreign minister of Burkina Faso Alpha Barry also stated he had summoned

19035-529: Was named the Bey of Tripoli and later Pasha of Tripoli in 1556. By 1565, administrative authority as regent in Tripoli was vested in a pasha appointed directly by the sultan in Constantinople / Istanbul . In the 1580s, the rulers of Fezzan gave their allegiance to the sultan, and although Ottoman authority was absent in Cyrenaica , a bey was stationed in Benghazi late in the next century to act as agent of

19176-510: Was officially reinstated to power in Ethiopia. The position of the emperor and the line of succession were strictly defined in both of the constitutions adopted during the reign of Selassie: the one adopted on July 16, 1931 ; and the revised one of November 1955 . Haile Selassie was the last Solomonic monarch to rule Ethiopia. He was deposed by the Derg , the committee of lower-ranking military and police officials on September 12, 1974. The Derg offered

19317-443: Was operated from UAE-run Al-Khadim Libyan air base. In February, these drones stationed in Libya were moved to an air base near Siwa in the western Egyptian desert. The Guardian probed and discovered the blatant violation of UN arms embargo by the UAE and Turkey on 7 October 2020. As per the reporting, both the nations sent large-scale military cargo planes to Libya in support of their respective parties. On 23 October 2020,

19458-414: Was provided for university scholarships and employment programs. Much of Libya's income from oil, which soared in the 1970s, was spent on arms purchases and on sponsoring dozens of paramilitaries and terrorist groups around the world. An American airstrike led by then US president Ronald Reagan intended to kill Gaddafi failed in 1986. Libya was finally put under sanctions by the United Nations after

19599-443: Was short-lived though, and already in 1001 the Berbers of the Banu Khazrun broke away. Tripolitania remained under their control until 1146, when the region was overtaken by the Normans of Sicily . For the next 50 years, Tripolitania was the scene of numerous battles among Ayyubids , the Almohad rulers and insurgents of the Banu Ghaniya . Later, a general of the Almohads, Muhammad ibn Abu Hafs, ruled Libya from 1207 to 1221 before

19740-432: Was sometimes revived to full effect after some unfortunate disputes – and that the custom started in time immemorial as Ethiopian common inheritance patterns allowed all agnates to also succeed to the lands of the monarchy – which however is contrary to keeping the country undivided. The potential royal rivals were incarcerated at Amba Geshen until the site was destroyed in 1540 during the Ethiopian-Adal war ; then, from

19881-440: Was the first to associate Ethiopia as part of the Horn of Africa . On 9 May 1936, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy proclaimed himself emperor of Ethiopia, replacing Haile Selassie. Victor Emmanuel's claim to emperorship was not entirely accepted, with the Soviet Union never considering the Italian conquest legitimate, and Haile Selassie continuing to contest the occupation from exile in the United Kingdom. With Italy's entry on

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