{"id":92705,"date":"2019-08-30T15:26:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T22:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=92705"},"modified":"2019-08-30T15:26:31","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T22:26:31","slug":"libya-gave-the-world-a-unique-treaty-which-should-be-copied-by-all-ex-colonial-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/08\/30\/libya-gave-the-world-a-unique-treaty-which-should-be-copied-by-all-ex-colonial-powers\/","title":{"rendered":"Libya gave the world a unique treaty which should be copied by all ex-colonial powers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Middle East\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Muammar Gaddafi [File photo] <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr Mustafa Fetouri<\/a> August 29, 2019 at 4:43 pm <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday 30 August is the 11th anniversary of the treaty signed by Libya and Italy on Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation<\/a>\n bringing to an end a long, turbulent chapter of relations between Rome \nand its former colony. It is not just another pact between two \ncountries; it is an exceptional bilateral deal about the touchy issue of\n colonialism. While covering many areas, it was primarily intended to \nheal wounds and compensate for the losses that Libyans suffered under \nItaly\u2019s occupation between 1911 and 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article\n 8 of the treaty sets out detailed, Italian-funded financial reparations\n to the tune of $5 billion, paid over 20 years, to finance \ninfrastructure and medical, educational and agricultural projects. These\n include about 2,000 kilometres of road linking Libya\u2019s eastern and \nwestern borders, and a railway network linking some Libyan cities. \nFurthermore, article 10 obliges Italy to return all artefacts and \nhistorical documents stolen from Libya during the occupation. The treaty\n also spells out future Italian-funded projects such as establishing the\n Libyan Academy in Rome, scholarships for Libyan students in higher \neducation and retirement pensions for Libyans forced to fight alongside \nthe Italian occupiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italy\u2019s \nrecognition, as a former colonial power, of the pain and suffering it \ninflicted on Libya is what makes the treaty really ground-breaking. For \nthe first time, a former coloniser admitted responsibility for its \nactions, apologised and sought forgiveness from the entire nation it \nonce conquered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ: 17 Haftar fighters surrender to Tripoli government<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arriving\n in Benghazi to sign the treaty with the late Muammar Gaddafi, the then \nItalian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi handed over an ancient statue \nof Venus, the headless Venus of Cyrene<\/a>, which had been taken to Rome in colonial times. In the name of the Italian people,\u201d said<\/a>\n Berlusconi, as head of the government, I feel it [is] my duty to \napologise and express my sorrow for what happened many years ago and \nleft a scar on many of your families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\n is the greatness of the treaty; it provided an apology for Italian \ncolonialism. There have been some colonial apologies for specific \natrocities committed under occupation, such as Britain saying sorry<\/a>\n for killing a few thousand Kenyans, and Japan\u2019s similar apology to the \npeople of Korea. However, neither country actually apologised for \ncolonialism itself, and nor did they pay reparations to their former \ncolonies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Libya did not get Italy to \ncommit to an apology and reparations easily. It took years of \nnegotiations and political pressure which saw Libya, on occasion, \nsuspend economic ties with Italy. The late Libyan leader repeatedly turned down<\/a>\n invitations to visit Italy unless it apologised and compensated Libya; \nthat is what happened a year after the treaty was signed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n 10 June 2009, Gaddafi arrived in Italy wearing the emblem of Libya\u2019s \nfamous anti-colonialist fighter, Omar Al-Mukhtar, and was accompanied by\n Al-Mukhtar\u2019s son. Ignorant of the symbolism of this, the Western media \nmocked Gaddafi throughout his visit. The media also misinterpreted the \nLibyan leader\u2019s meeting with about 200 business and professional women<\/a>\n during his second visit to Rome in November of that year. Known to read\n history extensively, Gaddafi believed the story that a top Italian \ngeneral, probably Benito Mussolini himself, visited Libya, met a group \nof women and handed them copies of the Bible. When Gaddafi met his group\n of women, he repaid the compliment and invited them to accept Islam \nbefore handing over copies of the Qur\u2019an. This was his way of answering \nwhat had happened decades earlier. One of his advisors later confirmed \nthe story to me. At the time no one had any idea why the meeting took \nplace and Gaddafi\u2019s inner circle kept quiet about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ: US calls for \u2018a political solution\u2019 in Libya<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n 2008, Libya thus achieved the unthinkable and showed the world that \nthose responsible for the colonial era can and should be punished as \nseverely as possible so that it cannot be repeated. Yet apologies and \nreparations from former colonial powers still elude victims such as \nIndia, which endured the worst of British imperialism for nearly 200 \nyears. The best that Algeria \u2014 colonised by France for 130 years \u2014 \nmanaged to get was recognition<\/a> of certain atrocities committed by the French during the colonial era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\n the UN has so far failed to condemn colonialism plainly and forcefully,\n let alone eradicate it. The world body recognises 167 days every year \nas international days<\/a>\n for almost every issue from World Tsunami Awareness Day to World Cities\n Day. June has the highest number of such days, currently 28, starting \nwith the Global Day of Parents on 1 June and ending with International Asteroid Day<\/a> on 30 June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"UN<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

UN General Assembly [File photo]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiously,\n the list does not include any international day for the eradication of \ncolonialism or a world day for reparations for colonial victims. Of \ncourse, as long as major former colonisers and their allies are \npermanent members of the UN Security Council with veto powers ready to \nkill any such proposal, it is unlikely to happen. Even more puzzling is \nthat all resolutions designating the 167 special days are adopted by the\n UN General Assembly and not by the Security Council. The General \nAssembly, of course, has no power and its resolutions are non-binding on\n UN member states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the UN found it relatively easy in 1991 to revoke its 1975 Resolution 3379, which considers Zionism to be a form of racism<\/a>\n and racial discrimination.\u201d It has also failed to end the longest \noccupation in modern history, that imposed by Israel across historic \nPalestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ: Israel-made drones downed over Libya<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book Wretched of the Earth<\/em>,\n French anti-colonialist writer Frantz Fanon (1925-1961), wrote that, \nColonialism and imperialism have not settled their debt to us once they\n have withdrawn from our territories. The wealth of the imperialist \nnations is also our wealth. Europe is literally the creation of the \nThird World.\u201d How right he was, and his statement stands true even \ntoday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to well-known Indian writer and politician Shashi Tharoor<\/a>,\n the issue of Britain paying reparations to India is less important \nthan the principle of atonement.\u201d A simple apology is more important to \npeople than money. I\u2026 would be happy to accept a symbolic pound a year \nfor the next two hundred years, as a token of apology,\u201d he added. \nColonial powers like Britain and France, as well as the others, should \nfollow the Italy-Libya example by accepting their historical \nresponsibilities towards their former colonial victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n world would be a better place states and global institutions, including\n the UN, find ways to reconcile their horrible history of conquests and \ninvasions, and seek a prosperous and peaceful future for all. \nReparations for Africa, for example, would help to reduce the flow of \nmigrants from south to north, and possibly end it altogether. If Spain \ncompensates its former colonies in Central and South America, they would\n be likely to be able to protect the Amazon for the betterment of all \nhuman beings everywhere, Spain included. Such a step would save the rich\n countries their entire aid budgets which they claim to spend on helping\n African counties every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most \nimportant lesson we can learn from the Italy-Libya treaty is that \ncruelty cannot be forgiven unless dealt with objectively; and that \ncolonialism is cruel by nature and so should be punishable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not \nnecessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Middle East\u00a0 Muammar Gaddafi [File photo] Dr Mustafa Fetouri August 29, 2019 at 4:43 pm Friday 30 August is the 11th anniversary of the treaty signed by Libya and Italy on Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation bringing to an end a long, turbulent chapter of relations between Rome and its former colony. It is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}