The On The Arid Coastline Of Oil Rich Libya

Just a few years ago, Libya had one of the highest standards of living of any African country. Now Libya is in political turmoil with multiple groups and governments trying to gain power. In 1969, Muammar Gaddafi seized power of Libya by a military coup. The authoritarian ruler stayed in power for four decades until 2011 when he was killed in an armed rebellion assisted by Western military intervention. The UN intervened in Libya for human rights reasons, not to facilitate a regime change. Shortly after Gaddafi was killed, foreign assistance disappeared leaving Libya fragile and hostile. The Libyan civil war began as a part of the Arab uprising, with two main opposing forces, the government and rebel militias. The military groups that had once fought to topple Gaddafi began to turn on each other in an attempt to gain power and oil wealth. Libya is now more ideologically divided than ever and in need of a plan to revive its nation.

Libya is a country east of Egypt with just over 6,000,000 people. Libya’s first ruler was King Idris I, he was elected after World War II when the people were looking for a new leader. He was Libya's only King. He established embassies with many large countries such as the U.S. and also allowed U.S. military to come in to restore and maintain the rights of the Libyan people in his first decade as a king. After King Idris I died in 1969, Libya fell apart. A new ruler, Gaddafi, began destroying Libya and its government. In 1972 tensions increased so much between the American and Libyan governments the American ambassador was removed from the embassy in Tripoli. In 1979 all American embassy workers were removed after an attack. In 2011 the people

Informants watched people in government offices, factories, and schools, and dissidents both at home and living abroad were executed or assassinated.” (Recknagel, 2011:1) As well, fear was instilled across the country from Gaddafi’s forty member team of highly trained women bodyguards. Gaddafi had previously been linked to supporting many terrorist attacks, such as, the Lockerbie bombing and the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing. Therefore, from a realist perspective, Libyans had a legitimate reason to resort to civil war because of rational self interest. Libyans feared what actions the regime may undertake if they remained in power.

In Benghazi, people burned ballot papers and objected to the proposed political dispensation which disproportionately allocated more nominal power to the U.S.-backed politicians based in the west around the capital of Tripoli. Even among the elites in the capital, there were clashes among rival militias and threats against the politicians by the armed rebels who refused to be disarmed and “integrated” into a “national army.” By Abayomi Azikiwe https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-imperialism-in-africa/5317219

Unlike what is emphasized by Obama in Extract 1, vast social reforms, immense welfare program, infrastructure-building were underway in Libya. As have been mentioned previously, Libya was one of the Africa’s most prosperous country due to the reforms that were done under Gaddafi’s regime. And as a result, by the time the 2011 crisis was unfolding, few people, mainly in the western world, were inclined to have any sympathy for Gaddafi or take any of his claims seriously, and the attempt of showing Gaddafi in a bad light quickly spread through the western mainstream media and Gaddafi had become hated in the western world. But the trigging factor is that, contrary to popular belief which had been transmitted by so many people, like Barack Obama, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi, whom was often portrayed as “tyrant” and “dictator” was in fact, Africa’s most prosperous democracy-according to the United Nations Development Index, prior to the U.S.-led intervention in 2011; according to the same index(see fig6), Libya had the highest GDP per capta, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy in all of Africa(see

In neighboring Chad, Muammar Gaddafi helped found a group known as the “Islamic Legion” which attempted to gain control of the Chadian government. This attempt failed, but sparked similar conflicts in Libya, and surrounding regions. During these conflicts, Darfur became a second front, serving as a relay point for military forces and weapon suppliers (Sikainga). Soon after these conflicts, a reformed “Arab Alliance” began to generate propaganda in Sudan claiming that the Arab population was being marginalized and calling for reform in the Sudanese government. The movement gained popularity and using the arms left in the country by past conflicts and hired mercenaries (Janjaweed), supporters soon overwhelmed the government

Peter Maass begins his book by saying “oil was all around me.” He was standing on a balcony in Bagdhad as the war was breaking out in 2003. In looking around as Iraqis were dragging the bronze head of Saddam Hussein’s head on the ground, Maass asked himself, “Had the Americans marched on Bagdhad for the sake

In an attempt to gain local perspective of the most recent terror attacks in Western Africa, reporter Carley Petesch of the Associated Press has been stationed in the region as their lead West-African correspondent. In the article she discusses how the beach massacre in Ivory Coast and the attack on a Mali hotel have forced the United Nations and European Union to dispatch troops to the area, with the hopes of improving local security measures. She speaks with locals and an area security consultant to discuss how the terrorist group known as Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) continue to terrorize the region, and local governments are in need of international assistance to prevent future attacks.

One of the most effective causes of conflicts in the Middle East is to try to get the resource of water. Water is what keeps a human being alive throughout

Following the United Nations (UN) supported declaration of independence in 1951, the United States (U.S.) established diplomatic relations with Libya. Due to Libya being an active member of the international community, the U.S. has strategic interests in a stable Libya and to continue indorsing support for a free, democratic Libya (Libya, n.d.). Furthermore, building democratic institutions, protecting the universal rights of all Libyans, promoting accountable and honest government, rebuilding its economy, and establishing security throughout the country are challenges Libya faces. The following paper will discuss Libya in relation to the U.S.’s involvement and continued significance to regional security and U.S. national security (Affairs, 2013). The U.S. has focused on supporting capacity building efforts within Libya’s government institutions, developing civil society and facilitating free and fair elections since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 (Libya, n.d.). Instability in Libya would significantly affect the world’s U.S. based major oil companies invested and operating within Libya. Furthermore, the U.S. has a trade and investment framework agreement with Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, of which Libya is a member to consider if sanctions are once more placed upon Libya (Libya, n.d.). To counter this instability, the U.S. coordinates projects with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). U.S. targeted assistance to Libya

The state Libya is the only country in Africa that shared the longest border with the Mediterranean Sea. The area of Libya state is about 1,759,540 square kilometers which are equal to (679,358 square miles) which makes Libya indicate the largest state that shared its border with the Mediterranean Sea in the African nation. The Sahara subjugates Libya; it is the hugest desert along the Mediterranean Sea, there is an enormous sand sea that would contrast sharply with the farmed lowlands. Libya has a low, dense population comparing with other states around the globe. The modern Libya state was established in 1951, when the three historically diverse regions which are Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan they were united as a United Kingdom of Libya. This new independent state was underprivileged, due to the limits of agriculture in its desert atmosphere. After the discovery of oil, the Libyan kingdom momentarily established large revenues. The Widespread of the frustration with the poor distribution of those profits has contributed to the overthrow of the king in 1969. The state’s new leader, Muammar Qhadafi, founded the state, in which the people hypothetically entrusted authority, but seized by his

The months following the Arab Spring were a turbulent time in across North Africa, but especially in Libya. In November 2011, a month after the death

The Libya Conflict that erupted on March 19th 2011. The United States was actively seen as a ‘’World Policemen” in enforcing peace in Libya through democracy which is the United States main goal to promote.

Amery H. A. & Wolf A. T. (2000). Water in the Middle East: A geography of peace. Austin:University of Texas Press.

Regardless of the past, the importance of water in the Middle East as a source of conflict has been continually under-appreciated both within the region and abroad. As Boutros Boutros-Ghali warned before taking his position as Secretary General of the United Nations in 1992, "the next war in our region will be over water, not politics."2 Water has a deeply spiritual importance in the Middle East. For over 1,500 years, Islamic law has dictated punishments to those denying access to or polluting water, because it holds water as reverent and spiritually pure. The Zionist tradition holds a similar reverence for the land and its resources.3