Abdel Moniem al-Taher al-Houni, also transliterated as Abdul Munim el-Huni, is a Libyan military officer, diplomat, and politician. He was one of the original twelve members of the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council and briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1974 to 1975. [1]
Houni was a major and among the Free Officers involved in the 1969 Libyan coup d'état that overthrew King Idris and brought Muammar Gaddafi to power. After the successful coup, he was among the twelve men named to the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). [1] In July 1972, amid false rumors that Gaddafi had been ousted or jailed by other members of the RCC, Houni was named Interior Minister in a new 18-man cabinet. He and Prime Minister Abdessalam Jalloud were the only military figures in the new cabinet; the rest were all civilian technocrats. [2] [3] He later served as Foreign Minister from 1974 to 1975. He also served as head of General Intelligence. [4]
In 1975, Houni was involved in Umar Muhayshi's failed coup attempt against Gaddafi. [5] After the coup was foiled, Houni fled to Egypt, where he was given asylum by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. [6] While living in exile in Cairo, Houni was involved in anti-Gaddafi activities. According to declassified State Department telegram from August 1976, Egypt and Saudi Arabia considered Houni a potential alternative to Gaddafi, either as the leader of an anti-Gaddafi government-in-exile or the leader of Libya after Egypt remove Gaddafi in a military coup or assassination. [6]
During the 1986 United States bombing of Libya, Houni, still living in Egypt, was named as the "convener of the Libyan National Salvation Committee." [7] In January 1987, a wide range of anti-Gaddafi Libyans in exile, including Ba'athists, socialists, monarchists, liberals, and Islamic fundamentalists, agreed to coordinate under the leadership of Houni. At the time, Houni was thought of as arguably the most likely candidate to lead Libya if Gaddafi were toppled and someone broadly acceptable to all factions of the anti-Gaddafi opposition. [5] The Libyan National Salvation Committee was later renamed National Alliance, but broke apart in January 1988 due to internal disagreements. In May 1992, Houni was cited as the founder of the National Libyan Alliance. [7] He also reportedly coordinated with Khalifa Haftar in the 1990s. [8]
In October 1992, Houni reportedly attended an anti-Gaddafi meeting in Algeria with another former foreign minister Mansour Rashid El-Kikhia, the leader of the Libyan National Alliance. He and Kikhia also attended a seminar in Washington in late 1993. On 10 December 1993, Kikhia disappeared in Cairo and was widely believed to have been abducted (his body was not found until 2012 in a refrigerator that belonged to Gaddafi's intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi). Days after Kikhia's disappearance, Gaddafi attended a political meeting that called for the killing of Houni, who was described by the Libyan press as a "traitor, spy, and stray dog." [9]
Houni apparently reconciled with Gaddafi sometime in the early 2000s due to the intervention of Egypt and was appointed by Gaddafi as Libya's representative to the Arab League, but he continued to live in Egypt as the Arab League was headquartered in Cairo and thus his new job did not necessitate him to move back to Libya. [8] In April 2003, Houni announced Libya's request to withdraw from the Arab League due to "the absence of a firm Arab stance" against US invasion of Iraq. [10] In 2006, Houni returned to Libya for the first time since 1975 as part of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's national reconciliation campaign. [11] In July 2007, Houni demanded other Arab countries to cut diplomatic and economic ties with Bulgaria in the aftermath of the HIV trial in Libya. [12]
On 22 February 2011, Houni was among the first diplomats to defect from the Gaddafi regime to the National Transitional Council (NTC) in the First Libyan Civil War and announced his resignation as Libya's representative to the Arab League "in solidarity with the revolution of the people and in protest of Gaddafi’s actions." [13] [14] [15]
On 26 February 2011, Houni falsely claimed that the Gaddafi regime was in its final hours and controlled only Bab al-Azizia and three other military camps. [16] The Fall of Tripoli did not occur until six months later.
On 31 March 2011, Houni accused Moussa Koussa, who had defected from Gaddafi, of being responsible for the assassinations of many Libyan opposition figures abroad. [17] He also claimed Koussa was one of the pillars of the Gaddafi regime since the 1970s. [18]
In June 2011, Houni was named the NTC's representative to Egypt and the Arab League. He was involved in behind-the-scenes talks with Gaddafi's envoys to negotiate a dignified exit for Gaddafi. [19] Houni and other surviving members of the historical Libyan Revolutionary Command Council were floated as potential transitional figures. [20]
During the Battle of Tripoli in August 2011, Houni speculated on Gaddafi's whereabouts. He stated that after losing Tripoli, Gaddafi had only three choices: his hometown Sirte, the desert Jufra District, or the oasis town of Traghan near the border with Niger. [21] [22]
On 25 August 2011, the NTC was recognized by the Arab League as the legitimate government of Libya and Houni was once again allowed to serve as Libya's representative to the Arab League. [23]
In January 2012, Ibrahim Dabbashi accused Houni of stealing $17 million. [24] [25] In September 2012, the Libyan government claimed Houni no longer had any role in the government since March. [26]
On 22 November 2021, Houni registered to run for president at the electoral office in Tripoli. [4] On 25 November 2021, the Libyan High Electoral Commission (HNEC) invalidated his presidential candidacy. [27] The presidential election was later postponed indefinitely.
Al-Saadi Muammar Gaddafi, also spelt as Al-Saadi Moammer Al-Gaddafi, is a Libyan retired professional football player. He captained the national team, but his career was widely attributed to the influence of his father Muammar Gaddafi, the country's leader at the time.
Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi is a Libyan political figure. He is the second son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He was a part of his father's inner circle, 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. According to United States Department of State officials in Tripoli, during his father's reign, he was the second most widely recognized person in Libya, being at times the de facto prime minister, and was mentioned as a possible successor, though he rejected this. An arrest warrant was issued for him on 27 June 2011 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for charges of crimes against humanity against the Libyan people, for killing and persecuting civilians, under Articles 7(1)(a) and 7(1)(h) of the Rome statute. He denied the charges.
Mohammed El Senussi is the son of Crown Prince Hasan as-Senussi of Libya, and of Crown Princess Fawzia bint Tahir Bakeer. Born in Tripoli, he is considered by Libyan royalists to be the legitimate heir to the Senussi Crown of Libya.
Abuzed Omar Dorda was a Libyan politician who was the General Secretary of the People's Committee of Libya from 7 October 1990 to 29 January 1994, and Libya's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1997 to 2003.
The Revolutionary Command Council was the twelve-person governing body that ruled the Libyan Arab Republic after the 1969 Libyan coup d'état by the Free Officers Movement. Its chairman was Muammar Gaddafi, who had the most influence and served as Libya's de facto head of state as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. It was ideologically Arab nationalist, republican, anti-imperialist and pan-Arabist.
Mansour Rashid Kikhia was the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs (1972–1973), Libyan Ambassador to the United Nations, Permanent Libyan Representative to the United Nations (1975–1980), and later an opposition figure to Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi, and human rights activist.
Moussa Muhammad El-Haj Nemr Koussa is a Libyan political figure and diplomat, who held several high-profile positions in the Libyan government, lastly as Minister of Foreign Affairs from March 2009, into the Libyan Civil War, when he resigned his position on 30 March 2011.
Umar Abdullah el-Muhayshi, also transliterated as Omar al-Meheshi, was a Libyan army officer and a member of the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council that ruled Libya after the 1969 Libyan coup d'état.
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The Libyan Civil War began on 17 February 2011 as a civil protest and later evolved into a widespread uprising. By mid-August, anti-Gaddafi forces effectively supported by a NATO-led international coalition were ascendant in Tripolitania, breaking out of the restive Nafusa Mountains in the south to mount an offensive toward the coast and advancing from Misrata on loyalist-held cities and villages from the north and east.
Mahmoud Jibril el-Warfally, also transcribed Jabril or Jebril or Gebril, was a Libyan politician who served as the interim Prime Minister of Libya for seven and a half months during the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan Civil War, chairing the executive board of the National Transitional Council (NTC) from 5 March to 23 October 2011. He also served as the Head of International Affairs. As of July 2012, Jibril was the head of one of the largest political parties in Libya, the National Forces Alliance.
Moussa Ibrahim Gaddafi is a Libyan political figure who rose to international attention in 2011 as Muammar Gaddafi's Information Minister and official spokesman, serving in this role until the government was toppled in the Libyan Civil War. Ibrahim held frequent press conferences in the course of the war, denouncing rebel forces and the NATO-led military intervention, often in defiant and impassioned tones. His status and whereabouts remained unknown following the Battle of Tripoli in which the Gaddafi government was overthrown, although there were several claims and subsequent refutations of his capture. Eventually, in late 2014, it was discovered he was in Egypt before he was deported and fled to Serbia. On 12 January 2015 Moussa Ibrahim spoke publicly by video link at a political event hosted at the Committee Rooms Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London from an undisclosed location, also the Director of Private Security Company.
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The 1969 Libyan revolution, al-Fateh Revolution or 1 September Revolution, was a coup d'état and revolution carried out by the Free Officers Movement, led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, which overthrew the Senussi monarchy of King Idris I and resulted in the formation of the Libyan Arab Republic.
Bashir Mohammad Massoud al-Rabiti is a Libyan politician.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya is a Gaddafi loyalist militia and political party that aims to elect Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, as president of Libya.
Tayeb el-Safi is a Libyan political operative. He briefly served as Minister of Economy & Trade and was one of the closest aides of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during the Libyan Civil War. In the 1980s, he had several international postings, primarily in Europe, at a time when many anti-Gaddafi dissidents were being assassinated extrajudicially abroad as a result of Gaddafi's "stray dog" policy.
Al-Khweldi Muhammad Salih Abdullah El-Hamedi, also transliterated as Khuwailidi al-Humaidi, was a Libyan Major General under Muammar Gaddafi, founding member of the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council, and the first Secretary General of the Libyan Popular National Movement. He was part of Gaddafi's inner circle.
Bashir Saghir Hawadi, also transliterated as Hawady or Houadi, is a Libyan major general who served under Muammar Gaddafi. He was among the twelve original members of the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council, the chief judge of the Libyan People's Court, and the General Secretary of the Arab Socialist Union.
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