Muammar Gaddafi: biography, family, personal life, photo

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

The country has been in a state of ongoing civil war for the eighth year now, splitting into several territories controlled by various opposing factions. The Libyan Jamahiriya, the country of Muammar Gaddafi, no longer exists. Some blame cruelty, corruption and the previous government mired in luxury, others blame it on the military intervention of the international coalition forces under the sanction of the UN Security Council.

Early years

Born Muammar bin Mohammed Abu Menyar Abdel Salam bin Hamid al-Gaddafi, according to some of his biographers, in 1942 in Tripolitania, as Libya, a former colony of Italy, was then called. Other experts write that the year of birth is 1940. Muammar Gaddafi himself wrote in his biography that he appeared in a Bedouin tent in the spring of 1942, when his family wandered near Wadi Jaraf, 30 km south of the Libyan city of Sirte. Specialists also name different dates - either June 7 or June 19, sometimes they simply write in autumn or spring.

Familybelonged to the Berber, however, strongly Arabized tribe of al-Gaddafa. Later, he always proudly emphasized his origins - "we Bedouins enjoyed freedom in the midst of nature." His father grazed camels and goats, wandering from place to place, his mother was engaged in housework, in which three older sisters helped her. Grandfather was killed by Italian colonists in 1911. Muammar Gaddafi was the last, sixth child in the family, and the only son.

At the age of 9 he was sent to elementary school. In search of good pastures, the family constantly wandered, he had to change three schools - in Sirte, Sebha and Misurata. In a poor Bedouin family, there was no money to even find a corner or attach it to friends. In the family, he became the only one who received an education. The boy spent the night in the mosque, on weekends he walked 30 km to visit his relatives. He also spent holidays in the desert near the tent. Muammar Gaddafi himself recalled that they always roamed about 20 km from the coast, and he never saw the sea as a child.

Education and first revolutionary experience

After graduating from elementary school, he continued his education at a secondary school in the city of Sebha, where he created an underground youth organization whose goal was to overthrow the ruling monarchist regime. After gaining independence in 1949, King Idris 1 ruled the country. Muammar Gaddafi, in his youth, was an ardent admirer of the Egyptian leader and President Gamal Abdel Nasser, an adherent of socialist and pan-Arabist views.

He participated in protests in 1956against Israel's actions during the Suez Crisis. In 1961, a school underground cell held a protest against Syria's secession from the United Arab Republic, which ended with Gaddafi's fiery speech near the walls of the ancient city. For organizing anti-government demonstrations, he was expelled from school, expelled from the city, and he continued his education at a school in the city of Misurata.

Information about further education is extremely contradictory, according to some sources, he studied at the Faculty of Law of the Libyan University, which he graduated in 1964 and then entered the military academy. After he served in the army and was sent to study armor in the UK.

According to other sources, after graduating from high school, he studied at a military school in Libya, then continued his education at a military school in Bowington Heath (England). Sometimes they write that while studying at the university, he simultaneously attended a course of lectures at the military academy in Benghazi.

During his university years, Muammar Gaddafi founded the secret organization "Free Officers of the Unionist Socialists", copying the name from the organization of his political idol Nasser "Free Officers" and also declaring the armed seizure of power as his goal.

Preparing an armed coup

The first meeting of the organization was held in 1964, on the sea coast, near the village of Tolmeita, under the slogans of the Egyptian revolution "Freedom, socialism, unity". Cadets in the deep underground began to prepare an armed coup. Later MuammarGaddafi wrote that the formation of the political consciousness of his entourage took place under the influence of the national struggle that unfolded in the Arab world. And of particular importance was the first realized Arab unity of Syria and Egypt (for about 3.5 years they existed within the same state).

The revolutionary work was carefully covered up. As one of the active participants in the coup, Rifi Ali Sherif, recalled, he knew only personally Gaddafi and the platoon commander. Despite the fact that the cadets had to report on where they were going, with whom they met, they found an opportunity to do illegal work. Gaddafi was very popular among the cadets due to his sociability, thoughtfulness and ability to behave impeccably. At the same time, he was in good standing with his superiors, who considered him a "bright head" and an "incorrigible dreamer." Many members of the organization did not even suspect that the exemplary cadet was leading the revolutionary movement. He was distinguished by outstanding organizational skills, the ability to accurately determine the capabilities of each new member of the underground. The organization had at least two officers in each military camp, who collected information about the units, reported on the mood of the personnel.

After receiving a military education in 1965, he was sent to serve as a lieutenant in the Signal Corps at the Gar Younes military base. A year later, after undergoing retraining in the UK, he was promoted to captain. During the internship, he became close friends with his future closest associate Abu Bakr Younis Jaber. In contrastfrom other listeners, they strictly followed Muslim customs, did not participate in pleasure trips and did not drink alcohol.

Leading a coup d'état

The general plan of the military coup, codenamed "El-Quds" ("Jerusalem"), was prepared by the officers already in January 1969, but the start date of the operation was postponed three times for various reasons. At this time, Gaddafi served as adjutant of the Signal Corps (communications troops). In the early morning of September 1, 1969 (at that time the king was undergoing treatment in Turkey), the conspirators' fighting detachments simultaneously began to seize government and military facilities in the country's largest cities, including Benghazi and Tripoli. All entrances to foreign military bases were blocked in advance.

In the biography of Muammar Gaddafi, this was one of the most crucial moments, he, at the head of a group of rebels, had to seize the radio station and broadcast a message to the people. Also, his task was to prepare for a possible foreign intervention or fierce resistance within the country. Having advanced at 2:30, the capture group led by Captain Gaddafi in several vehicles occupied the radio station of the city of Benghazi by 4 o'clock in the morning. As Muammar later recalled, from the hill where the station was located, he saw columns of trucks with soldiers moving from the port towards the city, and then he realized that they had won.

At exactly 7:00 AM, Gaddafi issued what is now known as "Communique No. 1" in which he announced that the armyforces, fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of the people of Libya, overthrew the reactionary and corrupt regime, which shocked everyone and caused negative emotions.

At the pinnacle of power

The monarchy was abolished, and a temporary supreme body of state power was created to govern the country - the Revolutionary Command Council, which included 11 officers. The name of the state was changed from the United Kingdom of Libya to the Libyan Arab Republic. A week after the coup, the 27-year-old captain was appointed supreme commander of the country's armed forces with the rank of colonel, which he carried until his death. Until 1979, he was the only colonel in Libya.

In October 1969, at a mass rally, Gaddafi announced the principles of the policy on which the state would be built: the complete elimination of military bases of foreign states in Libya, positive neutrality, Arab and national unity, a ban on the activities of all political parties.

In 1970 he becomes prime minister and defense minister of the country. The first thing that Muammar Gaddafi and the new government headed by him did was to eliminate the American and British military bases. On the "day of revenge" for the colonial war, 20 thousand Italians were evicted from the country, and their property was confiscated, the graves of Italian soldiers were destroyed. All lands of the exiled colonists have been nationalized. In 1969-1971, all foreign banks and oil companies were also nationalized, in local companies 51% were transferred to the stateassets.

In 1973, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi announced the start of the Cultural Revolution. As he himself explained, unlike the Chinese, they did not try to introduce something new, but, on the contrary, offered to return to the old Arab and Islamic heritage. All laws of the country had to comply with the norms of Islamic law, and an administrative reform was planned aimed at eradicating bureaucratization and corruption in the state apparatus.

Third World Theory

Being in power, he begins to develop a concept in which he formulated his political and socio-economic views and which he opposed to the two ideologies that dominated at that time - capitalist and socialist. Therefore, it was called the "Third World Theory" and set out in the "Green Book" by Muammar Gaddafi. His views were a combination of the ideas of Islam and the theoretical views of the direct rule of the people of the Russian anarchists Bakunin and Kropotkin.

An administrative reform was soon launched, in accordance with the new concept, all bodies began to be called people's bodies, for example, ministries - people's commissariats, embassies - people's bureaus. Since the people became the dominant force, the post of head of state was abolished. Gaddafi was officially named the Leader of the Libyan Revolution.

Clashing with internal resistance, several military coups and assassination attempts were prevented, Colonel Gaddafi took tough measures to eliminate dissent. The prisons were filled with dissidentsmany opponents of the regime are killed, some of them in other countries where they fled.

At the beginning of his reign and even until the 90s, Muammar Gaddafi did a lot to improve the living standards of the country's population. Large-scale projects were implemented to develop the system for the development of he alth care and education, irrigation and the construction of public housing. In 1968, 73% of Libyans were illiterate; in the first decade, several dozen centers for the dissemination of knowledge, national cultural centers, hundreds of libraries and reading rooms were opened. By 1977, the literacy rate had risen to 51%, and by 2009, the figure was already 86.8%. From 1970 to 1980, 80% of the needy, who had previously lived in huts and tents, were provided with modern housing, 180 thousand apartments were built for this.

In foreign policy, he advocated the creation of a single pan-Arab state, seeking to unite all the North African Arab states, and later promoted the idea of creating the United States of Africa. Despite the declared positive neutrality, Libya fought with Chad and Egypt, several times Libyan troops participated in intra-African military conflicts. Gaddafi has supported many revolutionary movements and groups and has long held strong anti-American and anti-Israeli views.

Top Terrorist

In 1986, at the discotheque La Belle in West Berlin, very popular among the US military, there was an explosion - three people were killed and 200 were injured. Basedintercepted messages, where Gaddafi urged to inflict maximum damage on the Americans, and one of them revealed the details of a terrorist act, Libya was accused of promoting world terrorism. The US President gave the order to bomb Tripoli.

As a result of terrorist attacks:

• in December 1988, a Boeing flying from London to New York exploded in the sky over the town of Lockerbie in southern Scotland (killing 270 people);
• in September 1989, a DC-10 flying from Brazzaville to Paris with 170 passengers on board was blown up in the skies over African Niger in September 1989.

In both cases, Western intelligence agencies found traces of the Libyan secret services. The collected evidence was enough for the UN Security Council to impose tough sanctions against the Jamaheriya in 1992. Sales of many types of technological equipment were banned, Libyan assets in Western countries were frozen.

As a result, in 2003, Libya recognized the responsibility of persons in the public service for the attack on Lockerbie and paid compensation to the relatives of the victims. In the same year, sanctions were lifted, relations with Western countries improved so much that Gaddafi was suspected of financing the election campaigns of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Photos of Muammar Gaddafi with these and other world politicians adorned the magazines of the leading countries of the world.

Civil War

In February 2011, the Arab Spring came to Libya, in Benghazi beganprotests that escalated into clashes with the police. The unrest spread to other cities in the east of the country. Government forces, backed by mercenaries, brutally suppressed the protests. However, soon the entire east of Libya was under the control of the rebels, the country was divided into two parts, controlled by different tribes.

On the night of March 17-18, the UN Security Council allowed to take any measures to protect the Libyan population, with the exception of ground operations, flights of Libyan aircraft were also banned. The very next day, US and French aviation began to launch missile and bomb strikes to protect the civilian population. Gaddafi repeatedly appeared on television, either threatening or offering a truce. On August 23, the rebels captured the capital of the country, a Transitional National Council was formed, which was recognized as the legitimate government by several dozen countries, including Russia. Due to the threat to life, Muammar Gaddafi managed to move to the city of Sirte about 12 days before the fall of Tripoli.

The last day of the Libyan leader

On the morning of October 20, 2011, the rebels stormed Sirte, Gaddafi, with the remnants of his guard, tried to break through to the south, to Niger, where he was promised shelter. However, a convoy of about 75 vehicles was bombed by NATO aircraft. When a small personal motorcade of the former Libyan leader separated from her, he too came under fire.

The rebels captured the wounded Gaddafi, the crowd began to mock him, poke him with a machine gun, stuck a knife in his buttock. Bloody, they put him on the hood of a car and continued torturing him until he died. Frames fromthese last minutes of the Libyan leader were included in many documentaries about Muammar Gaddafi. Together with him, several of his associates and son Murtasim died. Their bodies were put on display in an industrial refrigerator in Misurata, then taken to the desert and buried in a secret place.

A fairy tale with a bad ending

The life of Muammar Gaddafi proceeded in unthinkable sophisticated oriental luxury, surrounded by gold, guards from virgins, even the plane was inlaid with silver. He was very fond of gold, he made a sofa, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a golf cart and even a fly swatter from this metal. The Libyan media estimated the fortune of their leader at $200 billion. In addition to numerous villas, houses and entire towns, he owned shares in large European banks, companies and even the Juventus football club. During foreign trips, Gaddafi always took with him a Bedouin tent, in which he held official meetings. Live camels were always brought along with him, so that you could drink a glass of fresh milk for breakfast.

The Libyan leader was always surrounded by a dozen beautiful bodyguards who were required to wear stilettos and have perfect makeup. The protection of Muammar Gaddafi was recruited from girls who did not have sexual experience. At first, everyone believed that such a guard had more intuition. However, later in the Western press they began to write that the girls also serve for love pleasures. Perhaps this is true, but the guards worked in good faith. In 1998, when unknown persons fired onGaddafi, the main bodyguard Aisha covered him with herself and died. Photos of Muammar Gaddafi with his guards were very popular in Western tabloids.

The leader of the Jamaheriya himself has always said that he is against polygamy. The first wife of Muammar Gaddafi - Fathia Nouri Khaled, was a school teacher. In this marriage, a son, Muhammad, was born. After the divorce, he married Safiya Farkas, with whom they had seven children of their own and two adopted children. Four children died as a result of airstrikes by the Western coalition and at the hands of the rebels. A potential successor, 44-year-old Saif, tried to cross from Libya to Niger, but was captured and imprisoned in the city of Zintan. Later he was released, and now he is trying to negotiate with tribal leaders and public figures on the formation of a common program. The wife and other children of Muammar Gaddafi managed to move to Algeria.