Libya under Muammar Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafi (Mouammar Kadhafi)

I would like to share some points about life in Libya under the Guide of the Libyan Revolution Muammar Gaddafi, from an African perspective, not the trash published by the Western media.  Western Media Lies in LibyaNATO’s debacle in LibyaTruth Dispatch: Update on Libya. He was not a saint, but he loved his country deeply and Africa as a whole, and was fighting for our freedom and dignity as human beings!

Libya had significant reserves of crude oil and the discovery of oil changed its socio-economic landscape. Before Gaddafi, Libya had less control on the oil industry as most of the companies involved in oil exploration activities were foreign, but a few years after Gaddafi took control of the government of Libya, his administration nationalized the oil Industry which had a marked impact on the economy and development. Under Gaddafi’s leadership, Libyans enjoyed an exceptional standard of living, financed by oil revenues that were equitably redistributed.

Map of Libya

Thanks to a bold management of oil wealth, Gaddafi transformed his desert country into a model of social and economic development, offering its citizens unparalleled benefits on the continent, and in the world (Norway is now applying his doctrines – just under a different name). While the West often portrays him as a dictator, we want to tell you about the life of Libyans under Gaddafi, and the benefits to the whole of Africa.

Below are the main benefits enjoyed by citizens (source Eurafrica, translated by Dr.Y, Afrolegends.com):

Free education for all: Access to education, from primary school to university, was entirely free. Before Gaddafi, only 20% of Libyans were literate; under his rule, this rate rose to 83%. A quarter of the population held a university degree, a record in Africa.

Free medical care: Hospitals provided free care, and the number of doctors quadrupled in a decade. Diseases like malaria were eradicated, and tuberculosis declined sharply.

Affordable electricity: Although sometimes described as free, electricity was so heavily subsidized that its cost was negligible for households.

Housing, a fundamental right: Gaddafi considered housing an inalienable human right. Massive programs were implemented to build affordable housing, and citizens could obtain interest-free loans to buy their homes. No homelessness like in the streets of some of American and European capitals!

Support for young couples: Newlyweds received financial assistance of approximately $50,000 to acquire a home and start their family life.

Support for mothers: Every woman giving birth received a bonus of $5,000 to support her family.

Car subsidies: The state covered 50% of the price of cars, making mobility accessible to all. Gasoline at a ridiculously low price: With a liter of gasoline costing only $0.14, Libyans enjoyed some of the cheapest fuel in the world.

Affordable basic necessities: Essential goods were subsidized to ensure access for all.

Support for agriculture: Aspiring farmers received land, equipment, seeds, and livestock free of charge to start their farms.

Assistance for unemployed graduates: Unemployed young graduates received an allowance equivalent to the average salary for their profession until they found a job.

Education and healthcare abroad: If local infrastructure was insufficient, the state financed studies or medical treatment abroad, providing a monthly allowance of $2,300 for housing and transportation.

Oil revenue redistribution: A portion of oil revenues was reinvested in social programs, ensuring rare economic stability.

Libya was a debt-free economy and Gaddafi had a pan-African vision. With reserves of $150 billion and no external debt, Gaddafi’s Libya was an anomaly: an African country free from the clutches of international financial institutions like the IMF. This economic independence allowed Gaddafi to dream big. His ambitious project, the Great Man-Made River, transported millions of cubic meters of water across the desert, transforming arid lands into fertile fields. Nicknamed the “eighth wonder of the world,” this irrigation network symbolized his ambition to make Libya self-sufficient.

Gaddafi went even further: he wanted to unite Africa. By proposing a gold dinar to replace the dollar in African trade, he sought to free the continent from Western powers. This project, combined with his support for the African Union, made him a threat to the global order.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Brutally Murdered or How not to Trust an Enemy

Muammar Gaddafi (Mouammar Kadhafi)

This is a sad day! Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the Libyan Guide Muammar Gaddafi (Kadhafi) has been brutally murdered in his house in Libya! I don’t know if this year we are going to get bad news every third day of the month, but so far, it has rained! At the height of the NATO attacks on Libya in 2011, we were there in prayers, and words, writing to tell all about the injustices that were being perpetrated against the Libyan people. The mainstream media lied, and of course Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nicolas Sarkozy and the rest of NATO launched a vicious attack on the Libyan people under the false pretense that Gaddafi was killing his own people, a people he loved so dearly. The lies were blatant, the attacks horrendous, and they destroyed Libya, thus destabilizing the whole of Africa. We can still hear HRC cackle as she described the killing of the Libyan Guide. Western Media Lies in LibyaNATO’s debacle in LibyaTruth Dispatch: Update on Libya.

Libya, the Prey of the West
Libya, the Prey of the West

Saif al-Islam was one of Gaddafi’s sons. He was brilliant, and a part of his father’s inner circle, at some point performing public relations and diplomatic roles on his behalf; he publicly turned down his father’s offer of the country’s second highest post and held no official government position. He studied at the London School of Economics, and wanted to bring modernism to his country. In 2005, he was awarded a “Young Global Leader” title by the World Economic Forum, and in January 2011WEF founder Klaus Schwab personally invited Gaddafi to attend the annual WEF Forum in Davos. Young Gaddafi was tricked by the western glitter, and worked to lift the embargo on his country. He was instrumental in negotiations that led to Libya‘s abandoning its weapons of mass destruction program in 2002–2003, the country’s protection against western arms. He arranged several important business deals on behalf of the Libyan regime in the period of rapprochement that followed. He was viewed as a reformer, and openly criticized the regime, probably listening to western advisors.  Muammar Gaddafi did great things for Libya: it was one of the few countries in the world without debt, and with gold reserves. Living in a desert and constantly faced with lack of water, The Guide had even made water sprout in the desert digging deep, enabling amazing engineering feats such as the Great Man Made River Project, the world’s largest irrigation project once known as the 8th wonder of the world. Moreover, Muammar was helping other African countries free themselves, and was about to have the gold dinar to free African countries from the treacherous FCFA. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want the world to see that? Young Saif probably wanted to world to see the beauty his country was.

Map of Libya

Saif had schooled in Europe, in one of the best schools of the world, and likely wanted Libya to be accepted, and probably fell for the oldest Western trick in the book, that of “Democracy” Africans and the Trap of Democracy. He forgot that Westerners never forget! He forgot that once an enemy, always an enemy. He convinced his dad to open up to the west, to their measures, agree to their demands, etc. The Guide even financed Sarkozy’s campaign and election as president of France; he was in turn received like a king in Paris, just to be destroyed by that same Sarkozy (Former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, gets 5-year Sentence for Corruption Linked to Libya). Once Saif saw the vicious Western attacks on his country in 2011, he understood that the enemy was trying to destroy Libya, and fought against NATO forces, but by then it was too late, as the enemy had weakened their defenses with all the negotiations.

The destruction of Libya: the cake
The destruction of Libya: the cake

After the murder of The Guide, Saif was taken into custody, tortured for years, and later on freed. However, how can a child who has seen his country at its height, and then seen it broken to pieces, his family and people killed and scattered to the winds by the West, sit still? If you are that child, how can you live with yourself, knowing that your country’s downfall might have come from you trusting the enemy, or falling for their treacherous claims? He was still a menace for the West and they had to eliminate him!

The lesson is clear! If you have been enslaved by someone and hated, do not for a second forget and think that they would love you one day. It is important to know that the West never forgets… they keep track… (even after 100 years, they do not forget) and it is imperative for us to keep track and never forget! We live in a global world, so one needs business partners, but do not for an instant believe that someone who has pillaged your country, raped your sisters, destroyed your lives, would one day when you have freed yourself from their choke-hold, forget that they had crushed you once, or become your friends. Evil never becomes good!

Former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, gets 5-year Sentence for Corruption Linked to Libya

Nicolas Sarkozy battu
Nicolas Sarkozy battu

This Thursday, September 25, 2025, the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was given a 5-year jail sentence after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case related to millions of euros of illicit funds from the late Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The Paris criminal court acquitted him of all other charges, including passive corruption, and illegal campaign financing. It is the first time a former French president has received a prison sentence; he has also been given a €100,000 fine.

Nicolas Sarkozy, by Zapiro (source Grigrinews.com)
Nicolas Sarkozy, by Zapiro (source Grigrinews.com)

It is no secret that Sarkozy was at the helm of the destruction of Gaddafi, and Libya as a whole. This man, whose campaign and election was funded by Gaddafi!!! I repeat, Nicolas Sarkozy became president thanks to Gaddafi and Libya! This man deserves a lifetime in jail; not even sure if that will be enough to dry the tears of the Libyan people. Why? By his acts of extreme jealousy, destruction, and hate of goodness, he, and his NATO cronies destroyed Libya for generations to come, and not only Libya, but destabilized the whole of Africa with it. It is not a joke… and he gets only 5 years? 5 years for destroying, killing, destabilizing an entire population, and de facto a whole continent? He deserves life if not the other option that we all know!

Excerpts below are from Al-Jazeera

=====

Muammar Gaddafi

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty on Thursday of criminal conspiracy following a trial in which he was accused of accepting millions of euros in illegal payments from the late Libyan ruler, Muammar Gaddafi, between 2005 and 2007. The Paris Criminal Court sentenced him to five years in prison: it is the first time a former French president has received a prison sentence.

Sarkozy, 70, was found not guilty of other charges, including illegal campaign financing and passive corruption. Sarkozy has always denied all the charges [of course]. He claims the charges against him were politically motivated by Gaddafi’s inner circle in revenge for his backing of the antigovernment uprising in Libya in 2011.

The destruction of Libya: the cake
The destruction of Libya: the cake

… In his latest trial, which began in January this year, French prosecutors claimed that when he was interior minister, Sarkozy made a corrupt agreement to support Gaddafi’s government on the international stage in return for financing worth millions of euros to help pay for his presidential campaign. The agreement was alleged to have been carried out via a network of Libyan spies, a convicted terrorist, arms dealers and millions of euros shipped to Paris in suitcases.

… Besides Sarkozy, there were 11 other defendants, including the late French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine; Claude Gueant, a former close aide of Sarkozy; Eric Woerth, Sarkozy’s former head of campaign financing; and Brice Hortefeux, a former minister.

Libya, the Prey of the West
Libya, the Prey of the West

… The judge stated there was no evidence that Sarkozy struck a deal with Gaddafi or that funds sent from Libya ended up in Sarkozy’s campaign [so there were funds], even though the timing aligned and the money’s routes were “very opaque. However, she found Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy for allowing close aides to contact Libyan individuals in an attempt to secure campaign financing.

The allegations first came to light in 2011 when a Libyan news agency reported that the Gaddafi government had provided financing to Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign. In 2014, news channel France 24 reported that Gaddafi had said, “Sarkozy is mentally deficient … It’s thanks to me that he became president … We gave him the funds that allowed him to win,” during a recorded interview with another French broadcaster, France 3 TV.

Map of Libya

… The same year, Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, told Euronews that Gaddafi’s government had provided campaign funding to Sarkozy. He said: “The first thing we ask of this clown is that he return the money to the Libyan people, but he let us down.”

In 2012, Mediapart, a French online news outlet, published a note reportedly from the Libyan secret services from December 2006. The note allegedly mentioned Gaddafi’s agreement to provide Sarkozy with 50 million euros ($52m at current exchange rates) for campaign financing. Sarkozy claimed the document was fake [of course].

… In 2007, Sarkozy welcomed Gaddafi to the Elysee Palace in Paris. But when pro-democracy protests erupted during the Arab Spring in 2011, Sarkozy was among the first Western leaders to advocate for military intervention in Libya. Gaddafi was killed by opposition forces supported by NATO in 2011, ending his four-decade rule.

How do We Continue the Fight when the Head has been Cut Off?

Patrice Lumumba

As we celebrate the independence of the Democratic Republic of Congo from Belgium, I cannot help but think of Patrice Lumumba, gone too soon, assassinated by the imperialist forces that were Belgium, the CIA and more. As I think about him, I cannot help but think of Amilcar Cabral, killed for his fight for the independence of his country, or Thomas Sankara the legendary President of the Faso… and then I think about how long it took for Burkina Faso to wake up from its slumber after Sankara’s murder: 27 years! Samora Machel, Modibo Keita, Kwame Nkrumah, Ruben Um Nyobe, Felix Moumie, Sylvanus Olympio, Ernest Ouandie, Barthelemy Boganda, Mehdi Ben Barka, Muammar Kadhafi, … the list is so long…The question is great: How do we continue the fight when the head has been cut off? How do we continue fighting when the leader has been killed, or incapacitated, or as in some cases has been corrupted or coerced or turned over by the enemies?

A recent case has had my head spinning with this fundamental question: how do we keep going when the movement has been decapitated? Or when the leader is no longer fit to lead? I do not claim to have the answers as this is a crucial question, but it is worth pondering.

Thomas Sankara

I recently read “The Cost of Sugar” by Cynthia McLeod, where she talks about the fight of the Maroons or Boni or Alukus of Surinam for freedom. Surinam was a Dutch colony, and so the Dutch crown sent troops to fight the rebellious slaves; they also hired local slaves to whom they promised liberty and land in return for fighting the Maroons. The Maroons never gave up! They were well organized, even though they had very little and were under-armed, and lived in the bush. Their leaders were very often killed, but they kept the fight… they were fighting for their freedom: men, women, and even children contributed to the fight. Yes… they terrorized the planters for many years, they were defeated, and fled to neighboring French Guyana, but kept the fight. Why? Because the prize of freedom is too great to lay on the shoulders of one man, one leader, or a few… the fight must continue in spite of some men (betrayers and others)… we do not follow men, we follow ideas… we are not fighting for men, we are fighting for our right to dignity, our right to humanity, our liberty.

Amilcar Cabral on a stamp with the flag of Guinea Bissau
Amilcar Cabral on a stamp with the flag of Guinea Bissau

We have to keep the fight. Yes, it is okay to cry, it is okay to fall, feel discouraged, but we have to rise up, and keep up the fight. We might be disappointed by the so-called leaders who may turn their backs on us and betray us [“The Cancer of Betrayal” by Amilcar Cabral, J.J. Rawlings in His Own Words: African Identity, Betrayal, and More], or we might get discouraged when our leaders and hopes have been killed, but we have to keep the fight. We rise up! Dust off ourselves, and keep on fighting! The enemy will try many tactics to distract us from our goals, because the enemy lives on our ignorance, the enemy flourishes on our divisions, our disappointments, and discouragements. We cannot afford to cry too long! When a leader no longer matches our ideals, we put him to the side and keep on fighting. We are not fighting for ourselves, we are fighting for our ancestors who died fighting, we are fighting for our children who should not be beggars on their own lands while the enemy feasts on it. We fight because it is more than just us. Dignity, freedom, is a divine right, and it is ours… we need to claim it!

It took 100 years for China to reclaim Hong Kong and Macao from the British… China was able to do so because its leaders kept telling them how Great Britain made them sign treacherous treaties and stole their lands, they did not hide it from their people like many African leaders do [Did You Know about the 999-year Lease granted to Europeans in Kenya ?]. As a result, 100 years later, the Chinese leaders went to the British, and said “time is up, give us back our lands”. The leaders who were forced to sign these treaties 100 years prior were no longer alive, but the history, the preparation, the muscling up, the battle continued!… so we have to plan over decades, generations, to ensure continuity in the battle, implying education, real knowledge of our history (our triumphs as well as our defeats and the causes), the stakes, and keeping a living memory of our history. It may take years, decades, even a century like China with Macao, but we have to grow, know, and muscle up… we cannot keep crying.

Why the name: Tripoli?

Tripoli, capital of Libya (Source: scoopempire.com)
Tripoli, capital of Libya (Source: scoopempire.com)

I always wondered why the capital of Libya was named Tripoli.  The name did not sound so ‘Arabic’ or ‘Berber’ to me… and I always thought that maybe the name had some Italian origin, since Libya was once part of the Roman empire, and later in the 19th/20th centuries an Italian colony.

Tripoli, or Tarabulus in Arabic, is known as Tripoli-of-the-West, to distinguish it from its ancient Phoenician sister city of Tripoli in Lebanon which means Levantine Tripoli or Tripoli of the East.  Tripoli, Libya, is affectionately called the Mermaid of the Mediterranean (arusat-el-bahr: bride of the sea) describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings.  In reality, Tripoli is a Greek name which means “Three Cities(Tria for three, Polis for city) in reference to the Libyan province of Tripolitaine encompassing the three cities of Oea (modern-day Tripoli), Leptis Magna, and Sabratha.

Map of Tripoli
Map of Tripoli

Tripoli is located in the north west of the country.  It extends to the edges of the desert, on a rocky piece of land jutting out into the Mediterranean sea, forming a bay.  Tripoli was founded in the 7th century BC, by the Phoenicians, who gave it the Libyco-Berber name Oea (or Wy’t), probably built upon a native Berber town.  The Phoenicians were probably attracted to the site by its natural harbor, flanked on the western shore by the small, easily defensible peninsula, on which they established their colony.  The city was then taken by the rulers of Cyrenaica (a Greek colony on the North African shore, east of Tripoli, halfway to Egypt), although the Carthaginians later wrested it from the Greeks.  Around the 2nd century BC, Tripoli belonged to the Romans, who included it in their province of Africa, and gave it the name of Regio Syrtica.  Around the beginning of the 3rd century AD, it became known as the Regio Tripolitana, meaning “region of the three cities“, namely Oea, Sabratha and Leptis Magna.  It was later raised to the rank of a separate province by Septimius Severus, who was a native of Leptis Magna. Tripoli was later conquered by Muslim dynasties around the 8th century AD; it was temporarily part of the Berber Almohad empire and of the Hafsids kingdom.  Tripoli was included in the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries AD.

Jamahiriya Museum in Tripoli (Source: Tripadvisor.com)
Jamahiriya Museum in Tripoli (Source: Tripadvisor.com)

With a population over 1.68 million (census before the 2011 NATO attacks on Libya) Tripoli is the largest city, the principal port, and the biggest industrial and commercial city of Libya.  It is the heart of government and that of the prestigious university of Tripoli.  Due to its long historical importance, Tripoli has a lot of archaelogical sites.  Many of these sites (which were already derelict) were bombed by the NATO forces during their intervention in Libya 2011 against the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

True, the city today is very far from its splendid and beautiful self.  Tripoli is healing its wounds today, which may take years or decades to heal, but I thought you would enjoy watching this 2010 video of Tripoli, the Mermaid of the Mediterranean!