Idris of Libya
Idris | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
King of Libya | |||||
Reign | 24 December 1951 – 1 September 1969 | ||||
Heir apparent | Hasan | ||||
Prime ministers | |||||
Born | 13 March 1890 Al-Baqi' Cemetery, Medina, Saudi Arabia | ||||
Spouse |
Sakina bint Muhammad as-Sharif al-Sanussi
(m. 1907; div. 1922)Nafisa bint Ahmad Abu al-Qasim al-Isawi
(m. 1911; div. 1915)Fatima el-Sharif (m. 1931)Aliya Khanum Effendi
(m. 1955; div. 1958) | ||||
| |||||
Senussi | |||||
Father | Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi | ||||
Mother | Aisha bint Muqarrib al-Barasa | ||||
Religion | Sunni Islam |
Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi (
Idris was born into the Senussi Order. When his cousin Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi abdicated as leader of the Order, Idris took his position. The Senussi campaign was taking place, with the British and Italians fighting the Order. Idris put an end to the hostilities and, through the Modus vivendi of Acroma, abandoned Ottoman protection. Between 1919 and 1920, Italy recognized Senussi control over most of Cyrenaica in exchange for the recognition of Italian sovereignty by Idris. Idris then led his Order in an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the eastern part of the Tripolitanian Republic.
Following the
Early life
Idris was born at
In 1916, Idris became chief of the Senussi order, following the abdication of his cousin Sayyid
Head of the Senussi Order: 1916–22
After the
At the end of the
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.[14] 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.[14] 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.[14] Nevertheless, in November 1922, Idris agreed to the proposal.[14]
Exile: 1922–1951
Following the agreement, Emir Idris feared that Italy—under its new Fascist leader
Following the outbreak of the
After the defeat of the Italian armies, Libya was left under the military control of British and French forces.[21] They governed the area until 1949 according to the Hague Convention of 1907.[21] In 1946, a National Congress was established to lay the groundwork for independence; it was dominated by the Senussi Order.[21] Under British and French pressure, Italy relinquished its claim of sovereignty over the country in 1947,[22] although still hoping that they would be permitted a trusteeship over Tripolitania.[23] 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.[24] 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.[25] At the time neither the UK nor France supported the principle of Libyan unification, with France being keen to retain colonial control of Fezzan.[25] 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.[25] Similarly, France established a provisional government in Fezzan in February 1950.[25]
In November 1949, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Libyan independence, stipulating that it must come into being by January 1952.[25] The resolution called for Libya to become a single state led by Idris, who was to be declared king of Libya.[26] He had been reluctant to accept the position.[26] 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.[27] The Tripolitanians—largely united under Selim Muntasser and the United National Front—agreed to this plan in order to avoid further European colonial rule.[28] 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.[26]
King of Libya: 1951–1969
On 24 December 1951, Idris announced the establishment of the
The Kingdom was established along federal lines,[34] 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.[35] 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.[35] 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.[36] This constitutional framework left Libya with a weak central government and strong provincial autonomy.[37] The governments of successive Prime Ministers tried to push through economic policies but found them hampered by the differing provinces.[38] There remained a persistent distrust between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania.[26] Benghazi and Tripoli were appointed as joint capital cities, with the country's parliament moving between the two.[39] The city of Bayda also became a de facto summer capital as Idris moved there.[39]
According to the reporter Jonathan Bearman, King Idris was "nominally a constitutional monarch" but in practice was "a spiritual leader with autocratic temporal power",
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
Under King Idris, Libya found itself within the Western sphere of influence.
During the 1950s, a number of foreign companies began prospecting for oil in Libya, with the country's government passing the Minerals Law of 1953 and then the Petroleum Law of 1955 to regulate this process.[49] In 1959 oil was discovered in Libya.[50] The 1955 law created conditions that enabled small oil companies to drill alongside larger corporations; each concession had a low entry fee, with rents only increasing significantly after the eighth year of drilling.[51] This created a competitive atmosphere that prevented any one company from becoming crucial to the country's oil operation, although it had the downside of incentivising companies to produce as much oil as possible in as quick a period as possible.[52] Libya's oil fields fuelled rapidly growing demand in Europe,[53] and by 1967 it was supplying a third of the oil entering the West European market.[54] Within a few years, Libya had grown to become the world's fourth largest oil producer.[53] Oil production provided a huge boost to the Libyan economy; whereas the per capita annual income in 1951 had been $25–35, by 1969 it was $2,000.[42] By 1961, the oil industry was exerting the greater influence over Libyan politics than any other issue.[41] In 1962, Libya joined the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).[55] In ensuing years, the Libyan state furthered its control over the industry, establishing a Ministry of Petroleum Affairs in 1963 and then the Libyan National Oil Company.[56] In 1968, they established the Libyan Petroleum Company (LIPETCO) and announced that any further concession agreements would have to be joint ventures with LIPETCO.[56]
Libya experienced rampant corruption and favouritism.[45] A number of high-profile corruption scandals impacted on the highest levels of Idris's government.[48] In June 1960, Idris issued a public letter in which he condemned this corruption, claiming that bribery and nepotism "will destroy the very existence of the state and its good reputation both at home and abroad".[57]
On April 26, 1963, King Idris abolished Libya's federal system.[58] Both the provincial legislative assemblies and the provincial judicial systems were abolished.[58] Doing so allowed him to concentrate economic and administrative planning at a centralised national level,[58] and thenceforth all taxes and oil revenues were directed straight to the central government.[58] As part of this reform, the "United Kingdom of Libya" was renamed the "Kingdom of Libya".[58] This reform was not popular among many of Libya's provinces, which saw their power curtailed.[58] According to the historian Dirk Vandewalle, this change was "the single most critical political act during the monarchy's tenure in office".[58] The reform handed far greater political power to Idris than he had held previously.[59] By the mid-1960s, Idris began to increasingly retreat from active involvement in the country's governance.[60]
In 1955, failing to have produced a male heir, he convinced Queen Fatimah, his wife of 20 years, to let him marry a second wife, Aliya Abdel Lamloun, daughter of a wealthy Bedouin chief. The second marriage took place on 5 June 1955. Both wives then became pregnant, and each bore him a son.[61]
Overthrow and exile
King Idris used the oil money to strengthen family and tribal alliances that would support the monarchy, rather than using it to build up the economic or political apparatus of the state.[62] According to Vandewalle, King Idris "showed no real interest in ruling the three provinces as a unified political community".[34] Idris's regime had little support outside Cyrenaica.[63] It had been weakened by endemic corruption and cronyism in the country, and growing Arab nationalist sentiment following the 1967 Six-Day War.[64]
On 1 September 1969, while King Idris was in
Muammar Gaddafi's regime portrayed King Idris's administration as having been weak, inept, corrupt, anachronistic, and lacking in nationalist credentials, a presentation of it that would come to be widely adopted.[66]
In 1983, at the age of 93, King Idris died in a hospital in the district of
Legacy
According to Vandewalle, King Idris's monarchy "started Libya on the road of political exclusion of its citizens, and of a profound de-politicization" that still characterised the country in the first years of the 21st century.[68] He informed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and an early academic researcher that he had not truly wanted to rule over a unified Libya.[41]
Muammar Gaddafi's policies with regard to the oil industry would also be technocratic and bore many similarities with those of King Idris.[69]
Although the King died in exile and most Libyans were born after his reign, during the
Personal life
Vandewalle characterised King Idris as "a scholarly individual whose entire life would be marked by a reluctance to engage in politics".[10] For Vandewalle, Idris was a "well meaning but reluctant ruler",[71] as well as "a pious, deeply religious, and self-effacing man".[35] The Libyan Prime Minister Ben Halim stated his view that "I was sure... that [Idris] sincerely wanted reform, but I knew from experience that he became hesitant when he felt that such reform would affect the interests of his entourage. He would gradually pull back until he abandoned the reform plans, moved by the whisperings of his entourage."[72]
King Idris married five times:
- At Kufra, 1896/1897, his cousin, Sayyida Aisha binti Sayyid Muhammad as-Sharif al-Sanussi (1873 Jaghbub – 1905 or 1907 Kufra), eldest daughter of Sayyid Muhammad as-Sharif bin Sayyid Muhammad al-Sanussi, by his fourth wife, Fatima, daughter of 'Umar bin Muhammad al-Ashhab, of Fezzan, by whom he had one son who died in infancy;
- At Kufra, 1907 (divorced 1922), his cousin, Sakina, daughter of Muhammad as-Sharif, by whom he had one son and one daughter, both of whom died in infancy;
- At Kufra, 1911 (divorced 1915), Nafisa, daughter of Ahmad Abu al-Qasim al-Isawi, by whom he had one son who died in infancy;
- At Siwa, Egypt, 1931, his cousin, Sayyida Fatima al-Shi'fa binti Sayyid Ahmad as-Sharif al-Sanussi, Fatimah el-Sharif (1911 Kufra – 3 October 2009, Cairo, buried in Jannat al-Baqi, Medina, Saudi Arabia), fifth daughter of Field Marshal Sayyid Ahmad as-Sharif Pasha bin Sayyid Muhammad as-Sharif al-Senussi, 3rd Grand Seussi, by his second wife, Khadija, daughter of Ahmad al-Rifi, by whom he had one son, who died in infancy;
- At the Libyan Embassy, Cairo, 6 June 1955 (divorced 20 May 1958), Aliya Khanum Effendi (1913 Guney, Egypt), daughter of Abdul-Qadir Lamlun Asadi Pasha.
For two short periods (1911–1922 and 1955–1958), King Idris kept two wives, marrying his fifth wife with a view to providing a direct heir.
King Idris fathered five sons and one daughter, none of whom survived childhood. He and Fatima adopted a daughter, Suleima, an Algerian orphan, who survived them.
Honours
Idris was
- Order of Idris I
- High Order of Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali al-Senussi
- Order of Independence
- Al-Senussi National Service Star
- Al-Senussi Army Liberation Medal
He was a recipient of the following non-Libyan honours:
- Imperial Order of the House of Osman 1st class (Ottoman Empire) (1918)
- Nobility (Nishan-i-Majidieh) 2nd class (Ottoman Empire) (1918)
- Order of al-Hussein bin Ali (Jordan)
- Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (1954 – KBE in 1946) (United Kingdom)
- Collar of the Order of Muhammad (Morocco)
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile (Egypt)
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (France)
- Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence (Tunisia)
- Grand Cordon of the National Order of the Cedar (Lebanon)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy)
- Greece)
Ancestry
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References
Citations
- Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
- ISBN 978-3-658-11381-0.
- ^ St. John 2012, p. 111.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 18.
- ^ Gokkent 2021.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 19.
- ^ Mortimer 2014, p. 35.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 26.
- ^ a b c d Bearman 1986, p. 14; Vandewalle 2006, p. 27.
- ^ a b c Vandewalle 2006, p. 27.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 27; St. John 2012, p. 66.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 27; St. John 2012, pp. 66–67.
- ^ a b c d e f g Vandewalle 2006, p. 28.
- ^ a b c d Vandewalle 2006, p. 29.
- ^ Bearman 1986, pp. 14–15; Vandewalle 2006, p. 29.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 30.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 31.
- ^ Bearman 1986, pp. 15–16; Vandewalle 2006, pp. 32–33.
- ^ a b c d Vandewalle 2006, p. 36.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 18.
- ^ a b c Vandewalle 2006, p. 37.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 20; Vandewalle 2006, p. 38.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 20.
- ^ Bearman 1986, pp. 20–21; Vandewalle 2006, p. 39.
- ^ a b c d e Vandewalle 2006, p. 39.
- ^ a b c d e Vandewalle 2006, p. 42.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 21; Vandewalle 2006, p. 40.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 19; Vandewalle 2006, p. 44.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 43.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 3.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 22; Vandewalle 2006, p. 45.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 51.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, pp. 40–41.
- ^ a b Vandewalle 2006, p. 4.
- ^ a b c d e Vandewalle 2006, p. 47.
- ^ a b c d Bearman 1986, p. 24.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 46.
- ^ a b c Vandewalle 2006, p. 49.
- ^ a b Vandewalle 2006, p. 48.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 1.
- ^ a b c Vandewalle 2006, p. 50.
- ^ a b c Vandewalle 2006, p. 63.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, pp. 44–45.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, pp. 44, 45.
- ^ a b c Vandewalle 2006, p. 45.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 25; Vandewalle 2006, pp. 45, 52.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, pp. 69–70.
- ^ a b c Vandewalle 2006, p. 70.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 29; Vandewalle 2006, pp. 53–55.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 44.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 57.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 58.
- ^ a b Vandewalle 2006, p. 54.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 32.
- ^ Bearman 1986, p. 35; Vandewalle 2006, p. 59.
- ^ a b Vandewalle 2006, p. 60.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 71.
- ^ a b c d e f g Vandewalle 2006, p. 65.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 66.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Daily Mirror 23 September 1955
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 7.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 78.
- ^ Bloodless coup in Libya. BBC News, On This Day. 1 September 1969.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 75.
- ^ The New York Times (26 May 1983): "KING IDRIS, OUSTED IN '69 BY QADDAFI, DIES IN CAIRO".
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 5.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 61.
- ^ "The liberated east: Building a new Libya". The Economist. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 53.
- ^ Vandewalle 2006, p. 72.
Bibliography
- Gokkent, Giyas M. (2021). Journey in the Grand Sahara of Africa and Through Time. USA: G M Gokkent. ISBN 978-1-73712-988-2.
- Bearman, Jonathan (1986). Qadhafi's Libya. London: Zed Books. ISBN 978-0-86232-434-6.
- ISBN 978-1-85168-919-4.
- Mortimer, Gavin (2014). LKill Rommel!: Operation Flipper 1941. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Synge, Richard (2015). Operation Idris: Inside the British Administration of Cyrenaica and Libya, 1942-52. Silphium Press. ISBN 978-1900971256.
- Vandewalle, Dirk (2006). A History of Modern Libya. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521615549.
External links
- Media related to Idris of Libya at Wikimedia Commons
- Newspaper clippings about Idris of Libya in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW