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ilitary bases in the country in return for economic aid after oil was discovered in libya in 1959 he oversaw the emergence of a growing oil industry that rapidly aided economic growth idris s regime was weakened by growing arab nationalist and arab socialist sentiment in libya as well as rising frustration at the country s high levels of corruption and close links with western nations while in turkey for medical treatment idris was deposed in the 1969 libyan revolution led by army officers under muammar gaddafi early life edit idris was born at al jaghbub the headquarters of the senussi movement on 12 march 1889 although some sources give the year as 1890 a son of sayyid muhammad al mahdi bin sayyid muhammad al senussi and his third wife aisha bint muqarrib al barasa citation needed he was a grandson of sayyid muhammad ibn ali as senussi the founder of the senussi muslim sufi order and the senussi tribe in north africa idris s family claimed descent from the islamic prophet muhammad through his daughter fatimah 5 the senussi were a revivalist sunni islamic sect who were based largely in cyrenaica a region in present day eastern libya 6 the ottoman sultan abdul hamid ii sent his aide de camp azmzade sadik el mueyyed to jaghbub in 1886 and to kufra in 1895 to cultivate positive relations with the senussi and to counter the west european scramble for africa 7 by the end of the nineteenth century the senussi order had established a government in cyrenaica unifying its tribes controlling its pilgrimage and trade routes and collecting taxes 8 in 1916 idris became chief of the senussi order following the abdication of his cousin sayyid ahmed sharif es senussi he was recognized by the british under the new title emir of the territory of cyrenaica a position also confirmed by the italians in 1920 he was also installed as emir of tripolitania on 28 july 1922 9 head of the senussi order 1916 1922 edit the traditional provinces of libya idris was from the eastern province of cyrenaica after the regio esercito the italian royal army invaded cyrenaica in 1913 as part of their wider invasion of libya the senussi order fought back against them 10 when the order s leader ahmed sharif as senussi abdicated his position he was replaced by idris who was his cousin 11 pressured to do so by the ottoman empire ahmed had pursued armed attacks against british military forces stationed in the neighbouring sultanate of egypt formerly known until december 1914 as the khedivate of egypt on taking power idris put a stop to these attacks 11 instead he established a tacit alliance with the british empire which would last for half a century and accord his order de facto diplomatic status 12 using the british as intermediaries idris led the order into negotiations with the italians in july 1916 13 these resulted in two agreements at al zuwaytina in april 1916 and at akrama in april 1917 14 the latter of these treaties left most of inland cyrenaica under the control of the senussi order 11 relations between the senussi order and the newly established tripolitanian republic were acrimonious 12 the senussi attempted to militarily extend their power into eastern tripolitania resulting in a pitched battle at bani walid in which the senussi were forced to withdraw back into cyrenaica 11 idris with italian soldiers at the end of the first world war the ottoman empire ceded their claims over libya to the kingdom of italy 15 italy however was facing serious economic social and political problems domestically and was not prepared to re launch its military activities in libya 15 it issued statutes known as the legge fondamentale for the tripolitanian republic in june 1919 and cyrenaica in october 1919 these were a compromise by which all libyans were accorded the right to joint libyan italian citizenship while each province was to have its own parliament and governing council 15 the senussi were largely happy with this arrangement and idris visited rome as part of the celebrations to mark the promulgation of the settlement 15 in october 1920 further negotiations between italy and cyrenaica resulted in the accord of al rajma in which idris was given the title of emir of cyrenaica and permitted to administer autonomously the oases around kufra jalu jaghbub awjila and ajdabiya as part of the accord he was given a monthly stipend by the italian government who agreed to take responsibility for policing and administration of areas under senussi control 15 the accord also stipulated that idris must fulfill the requirements of the legge fondamentale by disbanding the cyrenaican military units but he did not comply with this 15 by the end of 1921 relations between the senussi order and the italian government had again deteriorated 15 following the death of tripolitanian leader ramadan asswehly in august 1920 the republic descended into civil war many tribal leaders in the region recognized that this discord was weakening the region s chances of attaining full autonomy from italy and in november 1920 they met in gharyan to bring an end to the violence 16 in january 1922 they agreed to request that idris extend the emirate of cyrenaica into tripolitania in order to bring stability they presented a formal document with this request on 28 july 1922 16 idris s advisers were divided on whether he should accept the offer or not doing so would contravene the al rajma agreement and would damage relations with the italian government who opposed the political unification of cyrenaica and tripolitania as being against their interests 16 nevertheless in november 1922 idris agreed to the proposal 16 exile 1922 1951 edit following the agreement emir idris feared that italy under its new fascist leader benito mussolini would militarily retaliate against the senussi order and so he went into exile in the newly established kingdom of egypt formerly known as the sultanate of egypt in december 1922 17 soon the italian reconquest of libya began and by the end of 1922 the only effective anti colonial resistance to the occupation was concentrated in the cyrenaican hinterlands 18 the italians subjugated the libyan people cyrenaica s livestock was decimated a large portion of its population was interned in concentration camps and in 1930 and 1931 an estimated 12 000 cyrenaicans were executed by the regio esercito italian royal army 19 the italian government implemented a policy of demographic colonization by which tens of thousands of italians were relocated to libya largely to establish farms 20 the cyrenaican flag used between 1949 and 1951 following the outbreak of the second world war in september 1939 idris supported the united kingdom which was now at war with italy in the hope of ridding his country of italian occupation 21 he argued that even if the italians were victorious the situation for the libyan people would be no different than it had been before the war 21 delegates from both the cyrenaicans and tripolitanians agreed that idris should conclude agreements with the british that they would gain independence in return for support during the war 21 privately idris did not promote the idea of libyan independence to the british instead suggesting that it become a british protectorate akin to transjordan 22 a libyan arab force consisting of five infantry battalions made up of volunteers was established to aid the british war effort with the exception of one military engagement near to benghazi this force s role did not extend beyond support and gendarmerie duties 21 after the defeat of the italian armies libya was left under the military control of british and french forces 23 they governed the area until 1949 according to the hague convention of 1907 23 in 1946 a national congress was established to lay the groundwork for independence it was dominated by the senussi order 23 under british and french pressure italy relinquished its claim of sovereignty over the country in 1947 24 although still hoping that they would be permitted a trusteeship over tripolitania 25 the european powers drew up the bevin sforza plan which proposed that france retain a ten year trusteeship in fezzan the uk in cyrenaica and italy in tripolitania after the plans were published in may 1949 they generated violent demonstrations in tripolitania and cyrenaica and drew protests from the united states soviet union and other arab states 26 in september 1948 the question of libya s future was brought to the united nations general assembly which rejected the principles of the bevin sforza plan instead indicating support for full independence 27 at the time neither the uk nor france supported the principle of libyan unification with france being keen to retain colonial control of fezzan 27 in 1949 the british unilaterally declared that they would leave cyrenaica and grant it independence under the control of idris by doing so they believed that it would remain under their own sphere of influence 27 similarly france established a provisional government in fezzan in february 1950 27 in november 1949 the un general assembly adopted a resolution on libyan independence stipulating that it must come into being by january 1952 27 the resolution called for libya to become a single state led by idris who was to be declared king of libya 28 he had been reluctant to accept the position 28 both the united kingdom and the united states who were committed to preventing any growth in soviet influence in the southern mediterranean agreed to this for their own cold war strategic reasons they recognised that while they would be able to establish military bases in an independent libyan state sympathetic to their interests they would have been unable to do so were libya to have entered un sponsored trusteeship 29 the tripolitanians largely united under selim muntasser and the united national front agreed to this plan in order to avoid further european colonial rule 30 the concept of a kingdom would be alien to libyan society where the loyalties to the family tribe and region or alternately to the global muslim community were far stronger than to any concept of libyan nationhood 28 king of libya 1951 1969 edit king idris with then u s vice president richard nixon march 1957 on 24 december 1951 idris announced the establishment of the united kingdom of libya from the al manar palace in benghazi 31 the country had a population of approximately one million the majority of whom were arabs but with berber tebu sephardi jewish greek turkish and italian minorities 32 the newly established state faced serious problems in 1951 libya was one of the world s poorest countries 33 much of its infrastructure had been destroyed by war it had very little trade and high unemployment and both a 40 infant mortality rate and a 94 illiteracy rate 28 only 1 of libya s land mass was arable with another 3 4 being used for pastoral farming 34 although the three provinces had been united they shared little common aspiration 35 the kingdom was established along federal lines 36 something that cyrenaica and fezzan had insisted upon fearing that they would otherwise be dominated by tripolitania where two thirds of the libyan population lived 37 conversely the tripolitanians had largely favoured a unitary state believing that it would allow the government to act more effectively in the national interest and fearing that a federal system would result in further british and french domination of libya 37 the three provinces had their own legislative authorities while that of fezzan was composed entirely of elected officials those of cyrenaica and tripolitania contained a mix of elected and non elected representatives 38 this constitutional framework left libya with a weak central government and strong provincial autonomy 39 the governments of successive prime ministers tried to push through economic policies but found them hampered by the differing provinces 40 there remained a persistent distrust between cyrenaica and tripolitania 28 benghazi and tripoli were appointed as joint capital cities with the country s parliament moving between the two 41 the city of bayda also became a de facto summer capital as idris moved there 41 according to the reporter jonathan bearman king idris was nominally a constitutional monarch but in practice was a spiritual leader with autocratic temporal power 42 with libya being a monarchical dictatorship rather than a constitutional monarchy or parliamentary democracy 38 the new constitution granted idris significant personal power 37 and he remained a crucial player in the country s political system 43 idris ruled via a palace cabinet namely his royal diwan which contained a chef de cabinet two deputies and senior advisers 38 this diwan worked in consultation with the federal government to determine the policies of the libyan state 38 king idris was a self effacing devout muslim he refused to allow his portrait to be featured on libyan currency and also insisted that nothing should be named after him except the tripoli idris airport 37 idris s regime soon banned political parties from operating in the country claiming that they exacerbated internal instability 40 from 1952 onward all candidates for election were government nominees 40 in 1954 the prime minister mustafa ben halim suggested that libya be converted from a federal to a unitary system and that idris be proclaimed president for life 44 idris recognised that this would deal with the problems caused by federalism and would put a stop to the intrigues among the senussi family surrounding his succession he asked ben halim to produce a formal draft for these plans but the idea was dropped amid opposition from cyrenaican tribal chiefs 44 king idris on the cover of the libyan al iza a magazine 15 august 1965 under king idris libya found itself within the western sphere of influence 45 it became the recipient of western expertise and aid and by the end of 1959 it had received over 100 million of aid from the united states being the single largest per capita recipient of american aid 46 u s companies would also play a leading role in the development of the libyan oil industry 47 this support was provided on a quid pro quo basis and in return libya granted the united states and united kingdom usage of the wheelus air base and the al adem air base 48 this reliance on the western nations placed libya at odds with the growing arab nationalist and arab socialist sentiment across the arab world 47 the arab nationalist sentiment promoted by radio cairo found a particularly receptive audience in tripolitania 49 in july 1967 anti western riots broke out in tripoli and benghazi to protest the west s support of israel against the arab states in the six day war 50 many oil workers across libya went on strike in solidarity with the arab forces fighting israel 50 during the 1950s a number of foreign companies began prospecting for oil in libya with the country s government passing the minerals law o...
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