Mereja.Forum

[Fiyameta]

Italy compensates its former colony Libya

“It is my duty to express to you, in the name of the Italian people, our regret and apologies for the deep wounds that we have caused you,” said the Italian premier.

August 30, 2008

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi signed an accord on Saturday under which Italy will provide $5 billion dollars in Compensation for its colonial rule of the North African country.

Italy ruled Libya from 1911 to 1943.

Libya has the right to demand that Italy pay for damages caused during more than 30 years of "senseless" colonial rule, Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said on Monday. "We have to accept the fact that we were the imperial country that invaded Libya at the beginning of the 20th century," Amato told Reuters in an interview.

"If there is a bill to be paid, there is no statute of limitations with history."

Here are some details of Italian relations with Libya since 1900:

* SOME HISTORY:

-- Italian forces landed in Libya in 1911 having declared war on the Ottomans who had established direct rule over part of Libya the year before.

-- During World War One, Libyan resistance to Italian rule began under the leadership of the Sanusiya dynasty and Umar al-Mukhtar. The Italians held only the coastal towns of Tripoli, Benghazi, Derna and Tobruk.

-- In 1920, Muhammad Idris was recognised as the ruler of the interior oases in an agreement known as the Accord of al-Rajma. Two years later Count Volpi was appointed governor of all Libya and in 1928 Marshal Badoglio became Governor-General.

-- An Italian royal decree named the country Libya in 1934.

* WORLD WAR TWO:

-- Allies gradually ousted the Italians from Libya -- the last Axis were driven out in 1943 -- and it was then divided between France and Britain.

* INDEPENDENCE:

-- Libya became independent under King Idris in 1951. He was overthrown on Sept 1, 1969 by Muammar Gaddafi and nationalist officers who staged a bloodless military coup while the king was in Turkey. The monarchy was abolished.

More..
https://merip.org/2009/03/assessing-ita ... -to-libya/

[Fiyameta]

Algerian and Egyptian politicians and intellectuals, and a number of activists from sub-Saharan Africa, have proclaimed that their countries should get deals similar to Libya’s for the injustices they suffered at the hands of European colonial powers. These injustices include the killings of civilians during anti-colonial uprisings, the destruction of infrastructure during World Wars I and II, and the distortion of local economies.

Members of Algeria’s National Liberation Front hoped that, after the Italian precedent, the European Union would be able to put pressure on France and “get it to make amends for what it did in Algeria.”

Ibrahim Salih, former chairman of Egypt’s Court of Cassation, claims that Britain owes Egypt no less than 100 billion pounds ($140 billion). “They [the British] plundered Egypt during World War I to cover the costs of their battles against the Turkish, bought Egyptian high-quality cotton for 20 years at very cheap prices, killed many Egyptians who joined demonstrations against their occupation and manipulated the country’s wealth in violation of democratic rules and human rights,” Salih opined.

[Temt]

I believe it is a matter of time before Eritrea demands compensation not only from Italy but from Britain as well. I even go further than the position of the Eritrean government to sympathize with Ethiopia's economic poor status. Honestly, even I agreed with our government's position of not requesting compensation from Ethiopia, a poor third-world country. I did, but not anymore, now that the ungrateful Ethiopian government is beating the war drums against our sovereignty, as did the previous regimes. Folks, some Ethiopian politicians have been taking our magnanimity as a sign of weakness!

[Union]

What about from the Turks and Egyptians?

Turks and Egyptians actually colonized you 10 times more years than Italy and UK combined.

[Mesob]

The Arab slaves and concubines in my Eritrea have no shame to open their Arabized mouths in an Ethiopian forum. The truth remains, the Italians invested a lot of money in Eritrean infrastructure, be it modern roads, ports, airports, radio communications, cities and towns, hospitals, cinemas, electric grid, railway lines, industrial farms, factories, family owned businesses ... which the Arab slaves under the leadership of Jebha and Shaebia destroyed it.
What did the Italians get from their investments in Eritrea? Nothing, they lost everything, when the British army dislodged them from their first colony.
What the Arab slaves are afraid is that, asking the savage Arabs to compensate for all the crimes the Arabs committed in Eritrea, at least in the last 200 years, including the Arab Jihadi invasion and the slavery in the port of Massawa, Keren, and the wars in Gurae, Gundet ....

[Fiyameta]

I believe it is a matter of time before Eritrea demands compensation not only from Italy but from Britain as well. I even go further than the position of the Eritrean government to sympathize with Ethiopia's economic poor status. Honestly, even I agreed with our government's position of not requesting compensation from Ethiopia, a poor third-world country. I did, but not anymore, now that the ungrateful Ethiopian government is beating the war drums against our sovereignty, as did the previous regimes. Folks, some Ethiopian politicians have been taking our magnanimity as a sign of weakness!

I used to think about bringing all 54 African countries together to file a class action lawsuit against the former European colonial powers to demand compensation, but when I saw the slave agame Meles Zenawi betraying Africans at the Copenhagen Climate summit I realized it's better if we Eritreans should go it alone.

[Cigar]

I said it before and I will say it again.
First of all Eritrean needs to ask compensations only from the evil British and the grand evil USA. All African countries were colonized by their evil colonizers but unlike most of them the Italians except fy’cking is up while they were colonizing us, when they left they didn’t create friction between our people, didn’t destroy the infrastructures they built in Eritrea granted it was for their own interest (they left it intact and the British and the midget cobwebbed feet sellassie destroyed them. So if you ask me, I will take their then after actions as compensations.
We all know what the British did (beside destroying our country they were allied with the USA who attached with the backwards Ethiopia and both are the ones which been trying to destroy us for over 80 years.
So, the Eritrean govt only needs to go after the USA and the British for restitutions.

[Fiyameta]

The "others", when slapped with a multi billion lawsuit, will quickly blame their master for putting them in a position where their savagery was considered the necessary evil to advance their master's agenda. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

[Fiyameta]

I'm certain that, once Eritrea goes ahead with its demands for compensation, some of the countries that have historically denied to ever been colonized will drop such claims and jump on the bandwagon seeking compensation.

[Temt]

I'm certain that, once Eritrea goes ahead with its demands for compensation, some of the countries that have historically denied to ever been colonized will drop such claims and jump on the bandwagon seeking compensation.

I agree with your observation...

[Temt]

I said it before and I will say it again.
First of all Eritrean needs to ask compensations only from the evil British and the grand evil USA. All African countries were colonized by their evil colonizers but unlike most of them the Italians except fy’cking is up while they were colonizing us, when they left they didn’t create friction between our people, didn’t destroy the infrastructures they built in Eritrea granted it was for their own interest (they left it intact and the British and the midget cobwebbed feet sellassie destroyed them. So if you ask me, I will take their then after actions as compensations.
We all know what the British did (beside destroying our country they were allied with the USA who attached with the backwards Ethiopia and both are the ones which been trying to destroy us for over 80 years.
So, the Eritrean govt only needs to go after the USA and the British for restitutions.

I am sorry, brother Cigar, but Italy as the colonizing party, must be held accountable for all the abuse of the Eritrean people.

[Fiyameta]

Italy may preempt Ethiopia with a $33 million compensation offer and call it a deal. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

[Fiyameta]

How much compensation should we seek from Italy, Britain and the others? We're open to any ideas.

[Fiyameta]

Caribbean nations have called for European governments to pay $50 billion as compensation for past colonization.

[Fed_Up]

It is a matter of concern as to how the giant ghetto will bear the financial burden for the damages caused in the at the time highly developed Eritrea. While Italy and Britain may be able to pay the compensation, it remains to be seen how the compensation for the destruction up until today will be paid.