Islamic State group briefly took advantage of the conflict to seize control of several coastal cities including Sirte. It retains a presence in the desert interior. Libya's media environment is highly-polarised and virtually unregulated, reflecting the country's political instability. Satellite TV is a key news source and many outlets are based outside Libya.
Journalism is fraught with danger; reporters face threats and attacks. Some key dates in Libya's history:. AD - Arabs conquer Libya and spread Islam. Omar al-Mukhtar begins year insurgency against Italian rule. This leads to civil war, foreign intervention and eventually the ouster and killing of Gaddafi. It faces opposition from rival governments and a host of militias. In , he expelled the remaining Italians from Libya and emphasized what he saw as the battle between Arab nationalism and Western imperialism.
He vocally opposed Zionism and Israel, and expelled the Jewish community from Libya. Qaddafi's inner circle of trusted people became smaller and smaller, as power was shared by himself and a small group of associates.
His intelligence agents traveled around the world to intimidate and assassinate Libyans living in exile. He involved the Libyan military in several foreign conflicts, including in Egypt and Sudan, and the bloody civil war in Chad.
In the mids, Qaddafi published the first volume of the Green Book , an explanation of his political philosophy. The three-volume work describes the problems with liberal democracy and capitalism, and promotes Qaddafi's policies as the remedy.
Qaddafi claimed that Libya boasted popular committees and shared ownership, but in reality this was far from true. Qaddafi had appointed himself or close family and friends to all positions of power, and their corruption and crackdowns on any kind of civic organizing meant much of the population lived in poverty.
Meanwhile, Qaddafi and those close to him were amassing fortunes in oil revenue while the regime murdered those it deemed as dissidents. Qaddafi's ruling style was not just oppressive, it was eccentric. He had a cadre of female bodyguards in heels, considered himself the king of Africa, erected a tent to stay in when he traveled abroad, and dressed in strange costume-like outfits. His bizarre antics often distracted from his brutality, and earned him the nickname "the mad dog of the Middle East.
In addition to his destructive rule at home, Qaddafi was despised by much of the international community. His government was implicated in the financing of many anti-Western groups around the world, including some terror plots.
The Irish Republican Army allegedly had links to Qaddafi. Because of the regime's links to Irish terrorism, the United Kingdom cut off diplomatic relations with Libya for more than a decade.
In , Libyan terrorists were thought to be behind the bombing of a West Berlin dance club that killed three and injured scores of people. The United States in turn, under President Ronald Reagan's administration, bombed specific targets in Libya that included Qaddafi's residence in Tripoli. In the most famous instance of the country's connection to terrorism, Libya was implicated in the Lockerbie bombing.
A plane carrying people blew up near Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all on board, with falling debris killing 11 civilians on the ground. Libyan terrorists, including an in-law of Qaddafi's, were also believed to be behind the destruction of a French passenger jet in , killing all on board. In s, the relationship between Qaddafi and the West began to thaw. As Qaddafi faced a growing threat from Islamists who opposed his rule, he began to share information with the British and American intelligence services.
In , Nelson Mandela persuaded the Libyan leader to hand over the suspects from the Lockerbie bombing. It wasn't long before Qaddafi had mended relations with the West on many fronts. Qaddafi was welcomed in Western capitals, and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi counted him among his close friends. Qaddafi's son and heir apparent, Seif al-Islam Qaddafi, mixed with London's high society for several years. Many critics of the newfound friendship of Qaddafi and the West believed it was based on business and access to oil.
In , the United Nations eased sanctions on Libya, and foreign oil companies worked out lucrative new contracts to operate in the country. The influx of money to Libya made Qaddafi, his family and his associates even wealthier. The disparity between the ruling family and the masses became ever more apparent. Bottom-up, collaborative problem-solving dialogues can be important means for building long-term confidence.
Concurrently, the international community can host a national dialogue to discuss Libyan identity and other critical issues that are vital to achieving thick reconciliation. This can also identify potential problems related to a transitional justice process, and solutions to overcome them. The international community will also need to discuss among the various stakeholders what its real goals are in Libya and, more specifically, how to balance transitional justice goals with stability—including political, military, social, and economic.
Without a clear understanding of the interplay between the two and the tradeoffs associated with different choices, there is a real risk of undermining goals related to both. The international community has responsibilities toward Libya, including acting on the pending warrants against Libyan figures like Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi and others alleged of committing crimes against humanity. Addressing such cases will encourage the state to similarly act on many of the thorny and pending issues at the heart of transitional justice in Libya.
Without this, the state will remain weak and society will either achieve mere thin reconciliation or fall back into violent conflict. For years it has seemed to Libyans as though the international community was rushing them to reach stability and peace by encouraging them to turn a blind eye to some of the difficult issues that would complicate thick reconciliation in the long term.
This came with a flood of new terms and concepts imported into Libyan society, as well as policies that can often be difficult for state institutions, which Qaddafi hollowed out during his reign, to understand and implement.
Foreign powers will have to answer for any harm done to Libya, and this might be part of their appraisal of the value of a transitional justice process, or lack thereof. Over Ubari residents gathered in September to formally inaugurate the open-air marketplace, which includes a community park for recreation.
After a decade of war and division, Libya has made progress toward peace this year. The GNU is a provisional body meant to lead the country to long-delayed elections on December While some progress has been made — a cease-fire agreement has been signed and the executive has been unified — many challenges remain. Chief among those challenges is developing a framework for national reconciliation and addressing the destabilizing role of foreign powers. Type: Analysis and Commentary.
Reconciliation ; Peace Processes. After a decade of conflict, Libya has made welcome progress toward stability. A cease-fire inked in October paved the way for the establishment of an interim unity government tasked with preparing for national elections at the end of An estimated several hundred thousand people in Libya — even some born and raised in the country — lack proof of citizenship.
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