Abstract

Libya: Oasis of Oil

Libya is huge, yet its population is less than 2 million, about 2.5 persons per square mile. Few people gave much thought to the country until, ten years ago, it changed from being one of the poorest to one of the richest nations in the world. Those who knew anything about it knew, perhaps, that its capital, Tripoli, had been a haunt of Barbary pirates. Or they were aware of the breathtaking Roman remains of Leptis Magnus, on the coast. That may be why little space was devoted to Libya in the world's press last September when twenty young officers overthrew 79-year-old King Said Mohammed Idris, the last of the Senoussi dynasty, and established a republic. This could prove to have been a significant oversight, for the officers vowed to make theirs a Socialist republic. Libya's Council of the Revolution, its ruling body, is the youngest group directing the affairs of any nation today. Colonel Mu'Ameer el Khadafi, the President, is 20 years old, the youngest minister is 24 and the oldest is ex-journalist Saleh Buweisir, known at 46 as the "old man."