Articles in this section

• Libya: Society, history

  Libya: Who is propping up Gaddafi?

  23 February 2011, by GARDNER Frank

  Unlike in Egypt or Tunisia, it is not the conventional military that holds the balance of power in Libya.
  Instead, it is a murky network of paramilitary brigades, “revolutionary committees” of trusted followers, tribal leaders and imported foreign mercenaries.
  The actual Libyan Army is (…)

• Libya: Society, history

  The Libyan Labyrinth

  22 February 2011, by PRASHAD Vijay

  In 1969, Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi (age 27) surprised the aged King Idris, then in Turkey for medical treatment. Inspired by the Free Officers in Egypt, Qaddafi and his fellow Colonels force-marched the fragile Libyan State and even more fragile Libyan society into socialism. Libya’s main (…)

• Libya: Society, history

  Libya crisis: what role do tribal loyalties play?

  21 February 2011, by HUSSEIN Mohamed

  During his speech on Libyan TV on Sunday, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, raised the spectre of civil war in Libya in the event of the anti-regime demonstrations continuing, with members of different tribes “killing each other in the streets”.
  But how much of this is real (…)