Articles by Beatrice Labonne

Tip-toeing into Libya, the Frugal “Petro-state”. 


As soon as you arrive at the nondescript Tripoli airport, you know that this oil-producing country has not emulated the profligate and conspicuous spending habits of its OPEC peers.  The Libyans have not fallen off their camels into a Cadillac sedan like the Gulf States citizens. The Libyans are still driving (recklessly) beaten up Peugeot and Toyota pickup trucks, not SUVs. Instead, Libya’s claim to fame comes from spending its disposable oil income on suspect and often criminal undertakings abroad, offshore that is.  But this is another story.  


For 37 years, oil-producing Libya has been a backwater ruled by the ascetic, erratic and elusive Col. Muammar Al-Gaddafi, a military dictator with neither title nor official function.  Libya reflects the puritan features of its long surviving ruler.  It is a drab country, with shades of dirty gray, dusty green and sandy beige like its vast desert expanses.  Until the early 2000s, the UN sanctions, had kept the country under wraps.  In many ways, the country still looks like a throwback from the Iron Curtain age.  Its fossilized socialism may appeal to nostalgic souls. If present-day Libya looks colourless enough, its ancient past was not.  During classical antiquity, the region was a bustling economic powerhouse with extravagance and luxury to match.  I spent two weeks in Libya to discover the remains of this glamorous heritage. 


The country has been colonized since antiquity.  Successive waves of opportunity-driven invaders landed on this side of the Mediterranean Sea.  The pioneers were the Phoenicians who invaded Tripolitania, the northwestern part of Libya.  Soon after, the Greeks established cities in the Cyrenaica, in the northeastern part.  Finally, the Romans defeated and assimilated everyone to establish a long lasting Pax Romana. The Arabs swept through the region during the 7^th century and converted it to Islam. The Ottoman army came in its wake to occupy the coastline cities, and for centuries provided shelter to the ferocious Barbary pirates.  


In the 17^th and 18^th centuries, Libya was known as the Barbary Coast. European ships were routinely ransacked, and their passengers taken into slavery.  “Gunboat diplomacy” was probably first used in Libya, when tired of having his ships hijacked, US President Thomas Jefferson ordered the retaliation gunning of a small dilapidated port in Cyrenaica.  History tends to repeat itself, and in 1986 President Reagan ordered the bombing of selected targets in Tripoli, Libya’s capital.  


In 1911, Italy kicked out the crumbling Ottoman forces and annexed the region.  By falling back into the grip of its former colonizers, Libya had gone full circle.  Libya’s Roman heritage served Mussolini’s imperialistic disillusion of grandeur.  Compared to England and France, Italy was a latecomer in the colonization business, but it caught up with a vengeance. In the 1920s and 1930s, Mussolini and his fascist legions launched their Pax Fascista.  “Pacification” was conducted at a brutal pace.  In the process, more than 100,000 Italians were settled in the country, and tens of thousand of locals lost their lives.  Oblivious of this mayhem, gangs of Italian archeologists worked around the clock to unearth and re-erect the glorious Roman monuments of the antic cities of Leptis Magna, Sabratha, Cyrene, Appolonia and Ptolemaïs. Mussolini’s visits were staged as a reincarnation of imperial grandeur.  Consummate builders, the Italians linked up the western and eastern parts of the country with a motorway. It soon became a battle ground during the Desert War of WW II (1940-43).  During this period, the respective armies of Graziani, Rommel, and Montgomery shifted back and force along this road.  The Allied victory put to an end to the Italian colonization.  In 1951, Libya’s independence was proclaimed by the UN.  The first and last kingdom to be established through this world body! 


Italy’s colonial legacy is not all negative.  Pasta has become a national dish, eucalyptus trees were planted in strategic locations to offer reliable shade, and “anastylosis” makes the antic ruins look sumptuous.  Last but not least, Italy’s harsh colonization practices bolstered the country’s nationalism and resistance to imperialism. Moreover, Italy gave Libya its name. 


“Anastylosis” is not an exotic disease, although it appears to be a bug which had been caught by many archeologists of the early 20^th century.  It is a re-erecting technique based on ones’ interpretation of what a monument used to look like.  Currently, in archeologist circles, “anastylosis” has become controversial.  As a “ruinophile” I am all for it.  Standing columns are more striking than cylinder blocks on the ground.  Antic buildings, temples, basilicas, arches, and baths have been carefully re-erected. I got my picture taken when sitting on a re-assembled communal latrine! 


Tourists, mainly from Europe are tiptoeing into Libya.  The country should be enjoyed now, as it is not yet a mass tourism destination like Egypt and Tunisia. Tourists are principally attracted to Libya’s five prestigious UNESCO World Heritage sites.  Leisure options are still limited.  If Libya offers plenty of sand, sea and sun, it doesn’t picture itself as a sex and sin destination.  Libya is not yet a destination for beach bums. The hotel industry is still in its infancy, and may stay this way for some time.  Libyans are not service oriented, and for good reasons! Al-Gaddafi’s Green Book disallows wage workers.  Every Libyan is a partner, not an employee.  The best hotels (relative definition) are staffed with Tunisian and Moroccans.  Libya is a dry country, literally, wine and beer are banned.  It is also safe, hassle-free, and the residents are honest which for tourists may compensate the absence of liquor!  Conversely, Libyan men are totally addicted to smoking! Although the majority of local women cover their head with a hijab, there is no specific dress code for women, apart from avoiding sexy outfits. 


For the practical traveler, Libya landmarks can be divided into five categories:

1) the glorious antique coastal cities of Sabratha, Leptis Magna in Tripolitania and Cyrene in Cyrenaica (all World Heritage sites), Appolonia and Ptolemaïs are also worth the visit, as is the Tripoli museum to recap it all. 

2) The street maze of the ancient desert city of Ghadames, (UNESCO World Heritage site) now a ghost town famous for its “air conditioned” architecture, and a former caravan hub near the border with Algeria and Tunisia.

3) The spell of the desert in the Fezzan, and the Akakus mountains (UNESCO World Heritage site).  Prehistoric paintings, wall carvings, mind blowing salted lake oasis in the middle of rolling sand dunes (beauty of which compensates for the hardship of going there) and the lost Garamantes civilization .

4) Finally a hodgepodge of Byzantine churches and their naïve mosaics, the crumbling Arab medinas and granaries, the Great Man-made River (GMMR), and the Tripoli souks. 

5) The WW II battlegrounds and cemeteries near Tobruk.  (French tours unfortunately bypass Tobruk). 


Key to a successful discovery of Libya is a good package tour led by a classic antiquity specialist.  Our French guide was fun, witty, motivated and passionate about his subject.  He should be cloned!  Local guides seem to have a very limited grasp of the intricacy of the Phoenician, Greek and Roman history.  Our specialist was assisted by a local guide cum troubleshooter, our personal policeman, referred to as our guardian angel and the minibus driver.  Needless to say, the bus driver had the toughest job.  This is the best human resources mix, but it was not cheap. Because Libya is a big country, three times the size of France, only four of the five World Heritage sites were visited during my 15-day package tour.  We bused and jetted around at breathtaking pace. There was no downtime in our programme!  .   


Books and tourist guides on Libya are few and far between. Their practical information is quickly obsolete because of the speed with which the Libyan government is facilitating tourist access.  Articles written by tourists themselves with updated information can be downloaded from the Internet.  The Green Book, a three part title by Al-Gaddafi explaining the political arrangement of the country can also be downloaded.  Its statements make for compelling reading during the trip. 


The traveler cannot avoid being puzzled by the apparent contradiction between the official pro-tourism line and the state of neglect of the World Heritage sites.  It can be elating to be able to wander freely, caress the soft marble of the statues and walk on the Roman mosaics, but this freedom is damaging the sites.  Degradations, plundering and smuggling of artifacts are commonplace.  Fortunately, 21st century pilfering does not come close to the wholesale robbery committed by the Sun King’s consul in Tripoli.  With Ottoman consent, he shipped kilometers of marble columns to France.  They are now gracing some very famous French landmarks!  


Col Gaddafi, a poster boy for radical nationalism is not unreservedly thrifty.  Evidently, he is reluctant to spend his oil revenues on the vestiges of past colonization.  Like Roman Emperor Septimus Severus, the other world-famous Libyan guy, Gaddafi is a master builder.  If the achievements of the former are over the surface, those of the latter are underground. Gaddafi is the pipeline world champion!  Just think of his mind-boggling Great Man-made River project, price tag, some US$ 30 billion with 4000 kms of huge underground water pipe crisscrossing Libya.  Inaugurated in 1991, the phased project is to supply water for the country’s needs by drawing the water from the fossil aquifers under the Sahara Desert.  The life-span of the GMMR is estimated at 50-100 years.  I do not know enough to comment on the rational for the project.  However, one may foresee tourists of the future roaming through the derelict tunnels and caverns of the GMMR just as we did in the gigantic water cistern network of the ancient Greek city of Plolemaïs.  


Beatrice Labonne, 20 October, 2006.