Wanis al-Qaddafi ( ar, ونيس القذافي) (22 November 1922 – 1 December 1986) was a Libyan politician. He held many positions in the era of the Kingdom of Libya and was the tenth

Prime Minister of Libya This article lists the heads of government of Libya since the country's independence in 1951. Libya is in a tumultuous state since the start of the Arab Spring-related Libyan Crisis in 2011; the crisis resulted in the collapse of the Libya ...

from 4 September 1968 to 31 August 1969, when his government was overthrown by Muammar Gaddafi (no relation).

Biography

Qaddafi was born in

Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη ('' Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghaz ...

, Italian Cyrenaica, in 1922, into the distinguished House of Shennib. During the Italian colonial period, an Italian lawyer trained him for a career in law. According to some accounts, during the Second World War he fled with his family to Sudan, only returning to his country after it was occupied by the British. The young Qaddafi was taken up by the Allied Forces overseeing the administration of Benghazi and was the first Libyan to be recruited by the British for the political administration of

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...

. Following the independence of Libya in 1951, he became a provincial minister in Cyrenaica, first of health, later of justice and transportation, and chaired Cyrenaica's Executive Council. A friend of Idris of Libya, the post-war national leader, in 1962–1963 he was Minister of Foreign Affairs, then Interior Minister, and finally in September 1968 became the last Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Libya, replacing

Abdul Hamid al-Bakkoush Abdul Hamid al-Bakkoush ( ar, عبد الحميد البكوش) (10 August 1933 – 4 December 2007) was Prime Minister of Libya from 25 October 1967 to 4 September 1968. After the proclamation of the Jamahiriya by Gaddafi, he went into exile to ...

, whose reforms had alienated some conservative elements. On 17 November 1968, Qaddafi opened the fifth session of the Libyan National Assembly in Bayda and gave the annual prime minister's speech from the throne, emphasizing the themes of "stability, prosperity, and progress". Qaddafi was ousted from office by a coup d'état against King Idris on 1 September 1969, and was sentenced by the Libyan People's Court to two years in prison.''A Political Chronology of Africa'' (Europa Publications, 2003), p. 242 He returned to private life after his release and died of a heart attack in December 1986, aged 64.

References

Prime Ministers of Libya 1922 births 1986 deaths Foreign ministers of Libya Interior ministers of Libya People from Benghazi Libyan politicians convicted of crimes {{Libya-politician-stub