Death of a Statesman .
These are days of secret police and open diplomacy, but there are parts of the world where events still move in archaic patterns. The recently created kingdom of Libya is such a place, if one is to judge by recent feports of happenings there. Ibrahim El Shalhi, the minister of the palace, had acquired. so the story goes, a considerable ascendancy over the aged King Idris. Indeed he fulfilled all the functions of the tradi- tional evil counsellor: he was a foreigner and was resented both by the queen and the royal family of the Senussi, who. instead of bearing the situation with resignation. took the feudal way out: El Shalhi was assassinated by the queen's nephew in persOn, who thereby avenged the honour of the dim. This tragedy of revenge was followed by some temporary uncertainty about the future of King Idris, who, like others before him, took refuge at Tobruk, but since then there have been signs that he has succeeded in re-establishing the situa- tion. The royal family has been re-defined, thereby depriving many of those involved in the plot against El Shalhi of their privileges, and some of them have actually been exiled. How- ever, if French press reports are to be believed, the affair is more complicated than a simple feudal squabble. It appears that El Shalhi favoured a close understanding with the USA and that those opposed to him were also opposed to the US-Libyan treaty granting the Americans air bases in the kingdom, and these reports have to some extent been confirmed by the dismissal (following King Idris's regaining control of the situation) of the President of the Libyan Senate because of his opposition to the treaty. However this may be, it seems certain that the Senussi royal family will not accept their defeat tamely: already the Prime Minister, Mustafa ben Halim, has been threatened with death, and it is likely that we have not yet heard the last of trouble in this youngest of kingdoms.
Previous page
