Yearbook 2011
Libya. At the start of the year, Libya was still the hard-fought dictatorship of Colonel Muammar al-Khadaffi as the country had been for over four decades – by the end of the year, a coalition of rebel forces had seized power, killed al-Khadaffi and began to try to build a democracy. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of LBY that stands for the country of Libya.
Inspired by the riots in Tunisia and Egypt, rebels in the million city of Benghazi in eastern Libya took to arms on February 15. al-Khadaffi’s forces were heavily armed, including attack helicopters, tanks and airplanes, while the rebels were for the most part civilians who managed to get over lighter weapons like the AK-47s. Within weeks, a bloodbath in Benghazi threatened. At the urging of the Arab League, the United Nations Security Council decided on March 17, through Resolution 1973, on an effort to protect civilians through an arms embargo and a ban on Libyan flights over the country.
On March 31, NATO took over the leadership of the operation, but also a dozen countries outside NATO participated, including Sweden. Through NATO support, the rebels were able to keep Benghazi, occupying the country’s third largest city of Misrata in the west and surrounding the capital Tripoli during the summer. The Battle of Tripoli became very bloody and led to several mass murders. At Abu Salim Hospital, more than 200 men, women and children were also found dead, probably because the staff could not get there because of the fighting. The rebels entered the city on August 21.
According to Countryaah official site, the rebel’s face during the revolution was the National Transitional Council (NTC) based in eastern Libya. The chairman was Mustafa Abdul Jalil, who had resigned in February from his post as Justice Minister under al-Khadaffi, and the acting prime minister was Mahmoud Jibril, a US-trained technocrat.
The pursuit of al-Khadaffi and his immediate circle became intense. On October 20, NATO flights attacked a convoy trying to leave al-Khadaffi fortress Surt. al-Khadaffi, his son Mutassim and a number of other men fled but were arrested by rebels and killed under unclear circumstances. Surt and another regime party, Bani Walid, fell and NTC declared Libya liberated on October 23. The only member of al-Khadaffi’s family that was captured was the favorite zone Saif al-Islam, which was called for by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and arrested in southern Libya on November 19. Sons Saif al-Arab and Khamis had been killed earlier during the revolution. Wife Safia, sons Muhammad and Hannibal and daughter Aisha had moved to Algeria and son Saadi was reported to have moved to Niger.
Data on the total number of casualties during the Revolution varied widely between 2,000 and 30,000. Clearly, many civilians were among the dead. The human rights organization Amnesty International stated that al-Khadaffi forces had killed, imprisoned and tortured both rebels and civilians, but that the rebels were not innocent either. Immigrants from southern parts of Africa were severely affected. Many fled abroad and those who stayed were often subjected to abuse, even from supporters of the rebels who suspected them of being mercenaries in the al-Khadafi forces or who used such suspicions as a pretext for racist acts.
NATO denied that its attacks had affected civilians, but there were records of several civilian casualties, including civilian casualties. for a NATO attack on Tripoli on June 19. NATO also denied participation in the revolution on the part of the rebels, but it was obvious that without the nearly 10,000 NATO attacks, the rebels would never have defeated al-Khadafist forces.
The NATO mission ended October 31. During the fall, schools opened, hospitals began to function, power cuts became fewer and water supply became reliable again. Consensus candidate Abdel Rahim al-Kib, electrical engineer from Tripoli, was appointed Nov. 1 as newly appointed prime minister. Over a hundred countries had then recognized NTC as the country’s government. But the Council had to deal with strong tensions: between Islamists and secularists, between former regimeists and oppositionists, between those who stayed in Libya and those who lived in exile, and between the country’s eastern and western parts. The demands of justice must be balanced against the need for reconciliation. NTC’s plan was to quickly appoint a body that would write a new constitution. In 2012, elections for a transitional parliament were planned, followed by parliamentary elections in 2013.
The war in Libya 2011
The uprising against the regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi in Libya broke out in February 2011. It coincided with similar revolts, including in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt in the winter of 2011, with demands for regime change and democracy. The rebellion in Libya thus joined the series of uprisings that constituted the Arab Spring.
The rebellion, which soon evolved into war, was driven by both internal and external actors, and to a greater extent than other countries, with the exception of Syria, by foreign interference. The rebellion – and the multinational military intervention – led to a regime change, and Libya was far from disintegrating.
The uprising started east in Libya, with a power center in the second largest city, Benghazi. From there it spread to other parts of the country, with the capital Tripoli. Gaddafi faced the uprising with threats of – and actual use of – weapons power. Threats to attack civilians who supported the rebellion were implemented to a small extent, but used as a justification for the intervention in March. Rebels, who were supported early by some foreign states, resorted to weapons early and attacked the government forces. As a result, the conflict quickly developed into a civil war. Then, from March, a multinational coalition launched a military campaign that resulted in the war being internationalized.
The escalation of the conflict, fearing that the regime would attack civilians in Benghazi, led the UN to impose sanctions on Libya, and then approve an international military intervention. It had civilian protection and not regime change as intended, but was nonetheless crucial to the regime’s failure in July 2011. The military action was first led by the United States, then by NATO, and Norway also participated with force contributions.