of all of Africa's many charismatic boscola no leaders there is perhaps no one quite as mysterious as the late Muhammad Gaddafi the self-proclaimed brother leader who led the North African state of Libya from his entry into power in a bloodless coup in 1969 until a shocking death in 2011 was a man who inspired deep admiration and respect in the minds of his supporters unprovoked feelings of intense hatred and disdain in the hearts of his detractors [Music] from his extravagant robes to his signature sunglasses and his band of female bodyguards Muammar Gaddafi was as eccentric as
he was enigmatic embraced by South African president Nelson Mandela for support for various black liberation movements both within and outside of Africa but labelled the Mad Dog of the Middle East by American President Ronald Reagan for is defiantly anti Western foreign policies Gaddafi's 42-year reign as Libya's leader would see him win the allegiance and adoration of many African leaders while simultaneously becoming a universal figure of hate all around the Western world to some a revolutionary and visionary hero to others a dictator and promoter of terror Mohammed Rafi was in many ways the perfect embodiment of
the old adage one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter born in 1942 to a poor nomadic community near the Libyan city of cert Muammar Gaddafi's early years were very humble indeed as a young man it would develop a strong admiration for larger-than-life political figures such as Frances Charles de Gaulle and China's Chairman Mao however his biggest political idol by far would be the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser a fully fledged Arab nationalist Nasser would be a strong proponent of pan-arabism and his bright vision for the future would be one in which all Arab countries
would come together and unite to break the Western world order deeply inspired by the ideas of NASA curavi will join the Libyan Royal Academy of Benghazi where he was being held the creation of a revolutionary group known as the free unionists offices movement which would be modeled after Abdel Nasser Egyptian Free Officers movements in September 1969 a 28 year old mahogany fee and his band of revolutionaries were successfully orchestrated bloodless coup against the highly unpopular monarchical regime of King Idris who had ruled the country since independence but had long been seen by many regular Libyans
as deeply corrupt and overly subservient to Western interests upon seizing power the free unionist offices movement would become the Revolutionary Command Council and returneth Gaddafi would become Colonel Gaddafi as the leader of the RCC prono Gaddafi would effectively become Libya's de facto head of state and go on to be the single most important force in the shaping of his nation's destiny following the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser shortly after the Libyan Revolution Gaddafi will take it upon himself to fulfill his hero's ban Arabian vision all through the 70s it would attempt to create greater political
union between Arab and Islamic African States by proposing a series of bilateral and multilateral agreements between his government and the governments of Egypt Sudan Tunisia Syria Chad and Morocco Gaddafi's ban Arabian initiatives would ultimately proved unsuccessful and after declaring that the Arab world was finished it will fully abandon pan-arabism in favour of pan-africanism drawing inspiration from Chairman Mao's little red book Gaddafi would famously documents his entire political philosophy in a three-part publication known as the Green Book which in theory at least would serve as a structural underpinning of his new nation's entire political system the
Green Book would contain Gaddafi's third universal theory which according to him was the blueprints for the creation of a perfectly gallate area Society which was free from the economic inequalities of free market capitalism and the authoritarian tendencies of Marxist communism in very simple terms Gaddafi's third Universal theory could be best described as a complex mixture of ideas drawn from classical liberalism Marxist socialism an Islamic theology the philosophy would reject the widely accepted Western models of representative democracy in favor of direct democracy according to the green book societies run by elected congressman and members of parliament
were not true democracies as the voices of the masses were drawn by layers and layers of complex bureaucratic processes which were completely alien to the average voter according to Gaddafi a truly democratic society was one in which decisions were taken not by elected legislators but by popular congresses and committees made up of the voters themselves Putin Gaddafi's political theory to the test the Libyan States who be converted in 1977 from the Libyan Arab Republic to the great socialist people's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya which in accordance with the green book would be a direct democracy in which
the Libyan people would rule themselves through a hundred and eighty seven basic people's congresses each of these basic people's congresses will then send representatives to the general People's Congress which on paper at least would be Libya's most powerful political units as all major political decisions had to be approved by it but wildly jamahiriya was a democratic utopia on paper thanks to his unique legislative structure the reality will be a lot different in practice the general People's Congress would do nothing more than rubber stamp all of Gaddafi's policies which would lead Gaddafi's political opponents to condemn
the regime as being nothing more than a dictatorship in democratic clothing Gaddafi's green book would also place him at odds with Islamic scholars at home and abroad due to his failure to fully accept all of the tenets of Islamic sharia law Gaddafi would declare Sharia law inappropriate for the jamahiriya as he considered the protection of private property under Islamic law to be incompatible with the socialist principles of his third Universal theory this declaration will lead many scholars to accuse him of the sin of idol worship as they considered that he was essentially elevating his green
book to place it on an equal footing with the teachings of the Quran despite his gripes with Islamic clerics and his domestic political opponents Gaddafi would for many years be hugely popular with the masses thanks to his regimes rollout of a wave of nationalizations in the oil industry which would see Libya become the first developing country to secure a majority stake in its own oil revenues thanks to his opponent oil revenues the Gaddafi regime would make significant investments into the country's infrastructure and greatly improve his health care and education systems thousands of acres of land
which were owned by foreigners and members of the auditoria family would be seized and redistributed to local farmers who would be provided with government salaries until the phone became profitable the government would also subsidize the construction of public housing for many of Libya's poor and during the course of Gaddafi's reign Libya's overall literacy rate would rise from 10 percent to 88 percent while his life expectancy would rise from 57 to 74 and his infant mortality rate would fall from an African average of 125 deaths per thousand live births - 15 deaths per thousand live births
in the year before Gaddafi's death Libya's estimated GDP per capita of 2062 dollars would be the highest in all of Africa as Libya would also be ranked as the only African country with a high human development score in the 2010 Human Development Index posting a better score than Russia and China as well as Eastern European countries such as Ukraine Romania Bulgaria and Serbia unlike virtually every other African country Gaddafi's Libya was financially self-sufficient are not indebted to any international banks or financial institutions his regime would also embark on a number of groundbreaking infrastructure projects the
most prominent of which would be the world's largest irrigation system known as the great man-made river this 25 billion dollar irrigation project would be developed to move fresh water across Libya's dry lands through a 4000 kilometre network of water pipes beyond its domestic endeavors Muammar Gaddafi would also embark on developing significant pan-african projects the strongman of Tripoli would contribute 300 million dollars to the commissioning of the original African satellite communication organization which would be instrumental in relief in African countries from the dependence on European satellite systems and save African governments a combined total of over
500 million dollars per year Gaddafi would also make further contributions to a number of other major African infrastructure projects for the construction of roads and railways and would also set up a five billion dollar fund but to be used for the development of five-star hotels religious buildings mobile phone companies and mining companies all across the African continent fully embracing his ideological switch from pan-arabism to pan-africanism Gaddafi will begin calling on African governments to work towards the creation of a United States of Africa complete with his own United military single currency and single passport putting his
money where his mouth was it would be the most important driving force behind the creation of the African Union in 2002 hosting a number of important meetings in the Libyan city of cert and pushing Africa's two largest economies of South Africa and Nigeria towards greater cooperation tariffs you would also specifically push for the inclusion within the constitution of the African Union of a roadmap for the creation of an African monetary fund an African Central Bank and an African Bank of investment his government would also cover the African Union membership costs of poorer African countries and
at some point Libya's total contribution to the AU's annual budget would amount to about a third of the total in the months leading up to his death he would also announce more specific plans for the creation of an African dinner which would be a new currency backed by gold which he reckon could mount a serious challenge to the dominance of the US dollar and the European Union's euro was waka Rafi spun African exploits and popular domestic policies would win him the praise and adoration of many his authoritarian style and his international adventurism would see him
make a long list of enemies at home and abroad domestic critics of the regime would be routinely subjected to brutal punishments and allegations or summary executions disappearances and massacres would be a widespread one of such incidents would be the 1996 abu salim prison massacre in which an estimated 1200 prisoners would be reportedly murdered with impunity by Libyan security operatives Gadhafi's pan-african ambitions would also see him butt heads with a number of African leaders who would grow suspicious of his aggressively expansionist foreign policies the 1970s would see Gaddafi's government involved in a violent territorial dispute with
the neighboring Republic of Chad over the a loose trip following Libya's occupation of the territory in 1973 this dispute would eventually lead to a series of Libyan invasions into Chad which would only be stopped after the US and France deployed troops in support of the Chad Ian's president in the so called Toyota war in 1977 Gaddafi's forces were also engaged in a short border war with Egypt known today as the four day war this conflict will be allegedly due to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's refusal to commit to greater political union with Libya in the aftermath
of the Yom Kippur War of 1973 this short but deadly conflict would be the climax of a long-standing shadow boxing match between the two men which would begin with Gaddafi allegedly sponsoring dissidents and assassination plots aimed at bringing down Sadat's regime and Sadat doing the same to Qaddafi in response just days after the 1980 Liberian coup d'etat which overthrew the government of William Tobit Gaddafi would defied the US government by being the first African leader to recognize the government of the successful coup plotter Samuel Doe but despite they initially called your relationship relations between the
two men would eventually wane a Samuel Doe would stand in opposition to Qaddafi Spann African ambitions in a 1983 interview doe will be quoted as saying there are fears a man who I think would like to lead the whole continent of Africa which is impossible to do Samuel Doe will then go on to accuse Gaddafi of working to destabilize his government by financing opposition groups in Liberia and sure enough later investigations will show that one of the major beneficiaries of Gaddafi's generosity was chose Taylor's National Patriotic Front which was one of the two major rebel
groups that would ultimately bring down some where those Gaddafi would also be a friend and supporter of the much reviled ugandan president idi amin as a favor to his friend Idi Amin Gaddafi will send thousands of troops to fight against Tanzania in the 1978 Uganda Tanzania war and when Idi Amin's regime began to crumble an estimated 600 Libyan soldiers would lose their lives trying to keep it together and open a means eventual exile from Uganda Gaddafi would host him a Libya before his final move to settle in Saudi Arabia from the late 70s and throughout
the 90s dead a few publicly support a long list of polarizing African politicians such as Eritrea Society of worki Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe GOP is highly main gaits ooh Sierra Leone's four-day sango and even the infamous Central African Emperor Jean Bedell Bokassa Gaddafi's provision of military and financial support to various of version air movements will see him raise the suspicions of many until their shock and horror he would even be proclaimed the king of kings of Africa in a 2008 event attended by over 200 traditional African rulers although Gaddafi's association with many of Africa's most prominent
Mohammed characters would raise eyebrows around the continent is eventual downfall would not be brought about by his actions in Africa but his actions outside of the continent from the early years of his regime various investigations will show Gaddafi to be a major sponsor of a number of militant groups designated as terrorists by Western governments in 1975 Gaddafi was alleged to afford it 3.5 million dollars to the accounts of Thomas McMahon and other members of the Irish Republican Army a militant group listed as a terrorist organization by the British government in 1988 darah fee would be
accused of ordering the Lockerbie bombing which would see 270 passengers died on board Pan Am flight 103 in what would ultimately go down as the deadliest terror attack in British history although Gaddafi never admitted to ordering the attack the strongman of Tripoli would nevertheless agree to pay compensation to the families of the victims on the 19th of September 1989 an airliner operated by French airline UTA would be destroyed by a cargo bomb which would lead to the death of all 170 passengers 54 of which would be French nationals the French government would immediately blame Libya
for the attack and six Libyan Nationals would be declared guilty by the French courts the Gaddafi International Foundation for charity associations would subsequently agree to pay a total compensation package of 170 million dollars to the families of the victims Gaddafi's international exploits would also see him make enemies around the Middle East and specifically in the State of Israel thanks to his fully fledged support for the Palestinian cause he would be alleged to have been a major sponsor of the perpetrators of the 1972 Munich massacres in which 11 Israeli athletes would be killed at the Munich
Olympics he would also allegedly provide over 700 million dollars to pro palestinian military groups residing in Lebanon which would lead Lebanese authorities to issue an international arrest warrant against him in 2008 with an ever-growing list of domestic and international enemies the Arab Spring of the early 2010's would ultimately set the scene for the demise of the brother leader as a series of anti-government protests began to spread throughout the Arab world you see while Gaddafi would for many years proclaim the democratic virtues of his jamahiriya in reality pretty much all forms of dissent against the regime
would be discouraged and repressed and all forms of political organization outside of the basic and general people's congresses would be declared illegal the jamahiriya is revolutionary councils would for many years be accused of working to systematically repress dissenting voices through the imposition of draconian punishments and their tight controls on state-owned media and slowly but surely a growing coalition of Libyan journalists political activists religious scholars and military groups would emerge as the regime's de-facto opposition on the 15th of February 2011 peaceful anti-government protests would be met with violence oppression by Libya's internal security forces - demonstrators
will be shot in the city of Baida and a prominent Libyan human rights lawyer would be arrested in Benghazi leading to further protests doubling down on their strategy the Libyan security forces would continue to respond to the protests with violence which would only make matters worse as the commotion will begin to spread to most cities in response the UN Security Council would refer the Gaddafi regime to the International Criminal Court impose an arms embargo and a travel ban and also freeze the assets of the Gaddafi family as well as other members of his inner circle
meanwhile the Libyan security forces in full firefighting mode would continue forcefully attempting to quell an ever-growing movement of anti-gaddafi agitators in Benghazi and other major Libyan cities on the 17th of March 2011 france lebanon and the united kingdom three nations with historic grudges against the brother leader would escalate the situation by proposing the now infamous UN Security Council resolution one 973 this resolution would ultimately serve as a legal basis for military intervention in Libya with the stated aim of protecting the civilian population NATO forces will then be deployed to enforce the UN resolution in a
us-led operation under the codename operation Odyssey Dawn and under the full view of various Western media outlets the nato-led operation would ultimately end in the violent and in death of Muammar Gaddafi on the 20th of October 2011 [Music] but while the UN and NATO claimed that the intervention would bring peace and democracy to Libya the result would be the exact opposite in a subsequent interview X US President Barack Obama would describe his government's failure to deal with the aftermath of Gaddafi's death as the worst mistake of his presidency indeed since the fall of Gaddafi Libya
has been completely destabilized with several rival factions vying for control of the country in a brutal civil war the leading faction based in Tripoli is the government of national Accord which is endorsed by the UN and backed by most Western countries while the rival tubruq administration has the support of Russia Egypt the United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia France and Jordan the militant group Isis has also gained a stronghold in Libya adding even more chaos to an already perilous political terrain the political instability and fight for control over the country's rich oil deposits has also made
Libya a hot spot for human trafficking and illegal migration according to the UN over 200,000 people have been internally displaced and over 1.3 million are now in need of humanitarian assistance with an estimated number of casualties since 2011 ranging from two-and-a-half to twenty-five thousand deaths the very same nation which thanks to his immense oil wealth a relatively small population had once enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in Africa has now been reduced to a hotbed of fighting medical shortages power outages kidnappings and forced labor while Gaddafi's regime may be rightly denounced for support
of terrorist activities and repression of dissenting voices it is hard not to sympathize with a growing number of commentators who continue to insist that all things considered the region was probably better off with him than without him [Music] looking to the future one can only hope and pray that the Libyan people managed to bring an end to the current conflict on their own terms and begin the long walk towards stability and reconciliation once again is KB tower for new Africa if you've enjoyed this video and would like to see more content like this then please
like and share this video and also consider supporting us on patreon at www.petland.com slash new Africa thanks again for your support and until next time [Music]
