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15.01.

Eccentric Moamer Gaddafi became Libyan prime minister

Eccentric Moamer Gaddafi became Libyan prime minister

Gaddafi declared himself the Fraternal Leader of the Libyan Revolution in 1979.



On this day, controversial Colonel Moamer Gaddafi has become Prime Minister of the Libyan Republic. Gaddafi actually came to power in 1969, as the leader of a group of officers who ousted King Idris without bloodshed, considered by many to be too lenient with Western powers, primarily the United States and France. Gaddafi was only 27 at the time, and his youth, energy and charisma gave many hope that Libya would have a bright future under his rule.

As a teenager, Gaddafi admired Egyptian Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser and based his policies largely on the principles of Arab nationalism and socialism, much like Nasser himself. Gaddafi’s Libya, like Nasser’s Egypt, was an active member of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is tempting to say that Gaddafi was a captain at the time of the coup, but shortly afterwards he was promoted to colonel, making him an equal to his idol Nasser by military rank and never becoming a general.

Almost immediately after taking office, Gaddafi took steps to remain remembered worldwide as an eccentric leader. Already in the same year he declared himself Prime Minister, Gaddafi expelled most Italian nationals from his country (Libya was once an Italian colony). In 1972, he relinquished the title of Prime Minister, which he abolished in 1977, and in 1979 declared himself the Fraternal Leader of the Libyan Revolution, seeking to emphasize his alleged position as the first among equals. Although his state was originally a republic, Gaddafi had already transformed it into a so-called 1977. mahahiriya, which can roughly be translated as an international republic. The Jamahiriya was nominally governed by a congress to which the people entrusted power directly through the people’s committees, but in fact almost took all Gaddafi’s power into their own hands and placed members of their own families in positions of power. Although he refused to take the rank of general, Gaddafi, as a colonel, held the highest rank in the Libyan armed forces, thus placing the army firmly in control.

Gaddafi changed the course of her foreign policy several times – she had a Pan-Arab, Islamist and Pan-African period, and even a period of reconciliation with the West. Gaddafi remained famous for his so-called The Green Paper (published in 1975), a political manifesto in which he outlined a policy for the third time between capitalism and socialism, but was usually regarded as a populist act that actually aimed to justify his authoritarian rule.




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