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Libya
The September 1969 Coup
On September 1, 1969,
in a daring coup d'état, a group of about seventy young army officers
and enlisted men, mostly assigned to the Signal Corps, seized
control of the government and in a stroke abolished the Libyan
monarchy. The coup was launched at Benghazi, and within two hours
the takeover was completed. Army units quickly rallied in support
of the coup, and within a few days firmly established military
control in Tripoli and elsewhere throughout the country. Popular
reception of the coup, especially by younger people in the urban
areas, was enthusiastic. Fears of resistance in Cyrenaica and
Fezzan proved unfounded. No deaths or violent incidents related
to the coup were reported.
The Free Officers Movement, which claimed credit for carrying
out the coup, was headed by a twelve-member directorate that designated
itself the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). This body constituted
the Libyan government after the coup. In its initial proclamation
on September 1, the RCC declared the country to be a free and
sovereign state called the Libyan Arab Republic, which would proceed,
with the help of God, "in the path of freedom, unity, and social
justice, guaranteeing the right of equality to its citizens, and
opening before them the doors of honorable work." The rule of
the Turks and Italians and the "reactionary" regime just overthrown
were characterized as belonging to "dark ages," from which the
Libyan people were called to move forward as "free brothers" to
a new age of prosperity, equality, and honor.
The RCC advised diplomatic representatives in Libya that the
revolutionary changes had not been directed from outside the country,
that existing treaties and agreements would remain in effect,
and that foreign lives and property would be protected. Diplomatic
recognition of the new regime came quickly from countries throughout
the world. United States recognition was officially extended on
September 6.
In view of the lack of internal resistance, it appeared that
the chief danger to the new regime lay in the possibility of a
reaction inspired by the absent King Idris or his designated heir,
Hasan ar Rida, who had been taken into custody at the time of
the coup along with other senior civil and military officials
of the royal government.
Within days of the coup, however, Hasan publicly renounced all
rights to the throne, stated his support for the new regime, and
called on the people to accept it without violence. Idris, in
an exchange of messages with the RCC through Egypt's President
Nasser, dissociated himself from reported attempts to secure British
intervention and disclaimed any intention of coming back to Libya.
In return, he was assured by the RCC of the safety of his family
still in the country. At his own request and with Nasser's approval,
Idris took up residence once again in Egypt, where he had spent
his first exile and where he remained until his death in 1983.
On September 7, 1969, the RCC announced that it had appointed
a cabinet to conduct the government of the new republic. An American-educated
technician, Mahmud Sulayman al Maghrabi, who had been imprisoned
since 1967 for his political activities, was designated prime
minister. He presided over the eight-member Council of Ministers,
of whom six, like Maghrabi, were civilians and two--Adam Said
Hawwaz and Musa Ahmad--were military officers. Neither of the
officers was a member of the RCC. The Council of Ministers was
instructed to "implement the state's general policy as drawn up
by the RCC," leaving no doubt where ultimate authority rested.
The next day the RCC decided to promote Captain Muammar al Qadhafi
to colonel and to appoint him commander in chief of the Libyan
Armed Forces. Although RCC spokesmen declined until January 1970
to reveal any other names of RCC members, it was apparent from
that date onward that the head of the RCC and new de facto head
of state was the ascetic, deeply religious, twenty-seven-year-old
Colonel Qadhafi.
Analysts were quick to point out the striking similarities between
the Libyan military coup of 1969 and that in Egypt under Nasser
in 1952, and it became clear that the Egyptian experience and
the charismatic figure of Nasser had formed the model for the
Free Officers Movement. As the RCC in the last months of 1969
moved vigorously to institute domestic reforms, it proclaimed
neutrality in the confrontation between the superpowers and opposition
to all forms of colonialism and "imperialism." It also made clear
Libya's dedication to Arab unity and to the support of the Palestinian
cause against Israel. The RCC reaffirmed the country's identity
as part of the "Arab nation" and its state religion as Islam.
It abolished parliamentary institutions, all legislative functions
being assumed by the RCC, and continued the prohibition against
political parties, in effect since 1952. The new regime categorically
rejected communism--in large part because it was atheistic--and
officially espoused an Arab interpretation of socialism that integrated
Islamic principles with social, economic, and political reform.
Libya had shifted, virtually overnight, from the camp of conservative
Arab traditionalist states to that of the radical nationalist
states.
Data as of 1987
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