Libya’s Eastern Rebels, Long-Time Qaddafi Foes, Driving Revolt
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Decades of poor treatment and economic discrimination against Libyans in the country’s eastern province of Cyrenaica provided the kindling for the revolt against leader Muammar Qaddafi, and the pro-democracy uprising in neighboring Egypt provided the spark.
The rebellion began in Cyrenaica, a region endowed with oil that was home to Libya’s first and only monarch, King Idris, who ruled from independence in 1951 until he was toppled by Qaddafi, then 27, in a 1969 military coup. Qaddafi then moved quickly to favor his own tribe and the western region around Tripoli, cutting the east’s share of government spending.