ABSTRACT
The Cyrenaican links to Egypt were not limited only to the movement of tribes. When Libya was under Italian colonial rule, Egypt provided Cyrenaicans with arms and supplies to assist them in their struggle for independence. By 1961 Libya began to export oil. Libya's ties to Egypt, the Sudan, Chad, and Tunisia were so strong that it would have been impossible during the early years of the monarchy to have a foreign policy that did not take into account those states. 'Abdallah al Sanussi principles and ideology were also a major determinant of Libya's foreign policy during the 1950s and the 1960s. Mahmud Bey Muntasir's first foreign policy statement announced that Libya would apply for membership in the United Nations as well as in three of its agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, and United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
