On Oct. Being one of the most prosperous countries in the African continent, thanks to its vast oil fields, after the fall of Gaddafi, the North African country was divided between rival governments in the east and west, and among multiple armed groups competing for quotas of power, control of the country and its wealth.
Gaddafi ruled for 42 years, leading Libya to a significant advance in social, political and economic matters that were recognized and admired by many African and Arab nations at the time.
Despite his controversial government, Gaddafi came to represent an important figure for anti-imperialist struggles for his position mainly against the U. It is for this reason, his life and death became pivotal events in Libya and key to understand the current situation. However, the U. When oil reserves were discovered in , the exploitation of wealth did not translate into benefits for the people.
According to political analyst Thierry Meyssan, during the monarchy, the nation was mired in backwardness in education, health, housing, social security, among others. The low literacy rates were shocking, according to Meyssan, only , inhabitants of the four million could read and write.
But it was in that the Senussi dynasty was overthrown by a group of officers led by Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi who proclaimed true independence and removed the dominant foreign forces from the country.
One of Gaddafi's immediate policies was to share the benefits and wealth to all Libyans. Since Gaddafi took power, oil has been the main resource in the hands of the leader of the newly proclaimed Libyan Arab Republic. Life expectancy is in the seventies. Illiteracy has been almost wiped out, as has homelessness — a chronic problem in the pre-Gaddafi era, where corrugated iron shacks dotted many urban centres around the country. BBC Monitoring, 21st February, More and more, his rule became characterised by patronage and the tight control of a police state.
The worst period for Libyans was probably the s, when Col Gaddafi experimented on his people with his social theories. As part of his "cultural revolution" he banned all private enterprise and unsound books were burned.
He also had dissidents based abroad murdered. Freedom of speech and association were absolutely squashed and acts of violent repression were numerous. This was followed by a decade of isolation by the West after the Lockerbie bombing. For Libyans critical of Col Gaddafi his greatest crime may have been the squandering of wealth on foreign adventures and corruption.
Most Libyans do not feel this wealth and living conditions can be reminiscent of far poorer countries. Libya's particular form of socialism does provide free education, healthcare and subsidised housing and transport, but wages are extremely low and the wealth of the state and profits from foreign investments have only benefited a narrow elite.
In , the Libyan leader made a comeback from almost total international isolation when he accepted the blame for the Lockerbie bombing.
Following 11 September , he signed up to the US government's so-called "war on terror". Soon after the US invasion of Iraq in , Libya announced that it was abandoning its nuclear and biological weapons programmes.
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