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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
Disposition of Italian colonial holdings was a question that
had to be considered before the peace treaty officially ending the
war with Italy could be completed. Technically, Libya remained an
Italian possession administered by Britain and France, but at the
Potsdam Conference in 1945 the Allies--Britain, the Soviet Union,
and the United States--agreed that the Italian colonies seized
during the war should not be returned to Italy. Further
consideration of the question was delegated to the Allied Council
of Foreign Ministers, which included a French representative;
although all council members initially favored some form of
trusteeship, no formula could be devised for disposing of Libya.
The United States suggested a trusteeship for the whole country
under control of the United Nations (UN), whose charter had become
effective in October 1945, to prepare it for self-government. The
Soviet Union proposed separate provincial trusteeships, claiming
Tripolitania for itself and assigning Fezzan to France and
Cyrenaica to Britain. France, seeing no end to the discussions,
advocated the return of the territory to Italy. To break the
impasse, Britain finally recommended immediate independence for
Libya.
The peace treaty, in which Italy renounced all claims to its
African possessions, was signed in February 1947 and became
effective in September. The language of the treaty was vague on the
subject of colonies, adding only that these territories should
"remain in their present state until their future is decided." This
indefinite proviso disappointed Libyan leaders, who had earlier
been alarmed at Italian diplomatic agitation for return of the
colonies. Libyans were apprehensive that Italian hegemony might
return in some ostensibly nonpolitical guise if Italy were given
responsibility for preparing the country for independence.
By mutual agreement the settlement of the Italian colonies was
postponed for a year after the treaty became effective, during
which time the Big Four (Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the
United States) were to search for a solution. If none could be
found, the question was to be put before the UN General Assembly.
A four-power commission of investigation was appointed to ascertain
what the Libyan people desired. Although the various regional
parties split over the question of the future status of their
respective provinces, the majority of Libyans favored independence.
The commission, however, decided that the country was not ready for
self-government. Other governments interested in the settlement of
the problem, notably Italy and Egypt, were consulted. In all cases,
conflicting interests prevented any solution, and in due course the
Libyan question was placed on the agenda of the General Assembly.
Idris had returned to Libya to a tumultuous welcome in 1944,
but he declined to take up residence there until satisfied that all
constraints of foreign control not subject to his agreement had
been removed. At British urging, he resumed permanent residence in
Cyrenaica in 1947; in 1949, with British backing, he unilaterally
proclaimed Cyrenaica an independent amirate.
In the meantime, Britain and Italy had placed the Bevin-Sforza
plan (after Ernest Bevin and Carlo Sforza, foreign ministers of its
respective sponsors) before the UN for its consideration. Under
this plan, Libya would come under UN trusteeship, and
responsibility for administration in Tripolitania would be
delegated to Italy, in Cyrenaica to Britain, and in Fezzan to
France. At the end of ten years, Libya would become independent.
Over Libyan protests, the plan was adopted by the UN Political
Committee in May 1949, only to fall short by one vote of the twothirds majority required for adoption by the General Assembly. No
further proposals were submitted, but protracted negotiations led
to a compromise solution that was embodied in a UN resolution in
November 1949. This resolution called for the establishment of a
sovereign state including all three historic regions of Libya by
January 1952. A UN commissioner and the so-called Council of Ten--
composed of a representative from each of the three provinces, one
for the Libyan minorities, and one each for Egypt, France, Italy,
Pakistan, Britain, and the United States--were to guide Libya
through the period of transition to independence and to assist a
Libyan national assembly in drawing up a constitution. In the final
analysis, indecision on the part of the major powers had
precipitated the creation of an independent state and forced the
union of provinces hitherto divided by geography and history.
The General Assembly named Adrian Pelt of the Netherlands as
commissioner for Libya. Severe problems confronted him and his
staff in preparing for independence an economically backward and
politically inexperienced country, almost totally lacking in
trained managerial and technical personnel, physicians, and
teachers. Of Libya's approximately 1 million inhabitants, at least
90 percent were illiterate. Libya's biggest source of income was
from scrap metal salvaged from the World War II battlefields. There
were no known natural resources--even Libya's sand was inadequate
for glassmaking--and it was obvious that the country would be
dependent on foreign economic aid for an indefinite period. Pelt
argued forcefully that Italian settlers should be encouraged to
remain in Libya, first, because the land they worked was private
property that could not be expropriated legally, and, second,
because their presence represented a long-term investment that was
essential to any further economic development in the country.
Historically, the administration of Libya had been united for
only a few years--and those under Italian rule. Many groups vied
for influence over the people but, although all parties desired
independence, there was no consensus as to what form of government
was to be established. The social basis of political organization
varied from region to region. In Cyrenaica and Fezzan, the tribe
was the chief focus of social identification, even in an urban
context. Idris had wide appeal in the former as head of the Sanusi
order, while in the latter the Sayf an Nasr clan commanded a
following as paramount tribal chieftains. In Tripolitania, by
contrast, loyalty that in a social context was reserved largely to
the family and kinship group could be transferred more easily to a
political party and its leader. Tripolitanians, following the lead
of Bashir as Sadawi's National Congress Party, pressed for a
republican form of government in a unitary state. Inasmuch as their
region had a significantly larger population and a relatively more
advanced economy that the other two, they expected that under a
unitary political system political power would gravitate
automatically to Tripoli. Cyrenaicans, who had achieved a larger
degree of cohesion under Sanusi leadership, feared the chaos they
saw in Tripolitania and the threat of being swamped politically by
the Tripolitanians in a unitary state. Guided by the National
Front, endorsed by Idris initially to advocate unilateral
independence for Cyrenaica, they backed formation of a federation
with a weak central government that would permit local autonomy
under Idris as amir. But even in Cyrenaica a cleavage existed
between an older generation that thought instinctively in
provincial terms and a younger generation--many of whom were
influenced by their membership in the Umar al Mukhtar Club, a
political action group first formed in 1942 with Idris' blessing
but by 1947 tending toward republican and nationalist views--whose
outlook reflected the rise of pan-Arab political nationalism,
already a strong force in the Middle East and growing in Libya.
To implement the General Assembly's directive, Pelt approved
the appointment of the Preparatory Committee of Twenty-One to
determine the composition of a national constitutional convention.
The committee included seven members from each province, nominated
in Cyrenaica by Idris, in Fezzan by the Sayf an Nasr chieftains,
and in Tripolitania by the grand mufti (chief religious judge) of
Tripoli, who also acted as its chairman. Nationalists objected that
the committee represented traditional regional interests and could
not reflect the will of the Libyan people as the General Assembly
had intended.
The product of the committee's deliberations was the creation
of the National Constituent Assembly, in which each of the three
provinces was equally represented. Meeting for the first time in
November 1950, the assembly approved a federal system of government
with a monarchy, despite dissent from Tripolitanian delegates, and
offered the throne to Idris. Committees of the assembly drafted a
constitution, which was duly adopted in October 1951. Meanwhile,
internal administrative authority had already been transferred by
British and French administrations to the regional governments--and
in Cyrenaica to the independent Sanusi amirate. On December 24,
1951, King Idris I proclaimed the independence of the United
Kingdom of Libya as a sovereign state.
Data as of 1987
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