ABSTRACT
The external military intervention in Libya was directly triggered by the bloody suppression of mass protests against the authoritarian rule of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and the outbreak of civil war in the country. Libyan society is strongly divided along ethnic and tribal lines, and this was the basis for defining the citizens’ attitude towards Gaddafi’s regime. Libyan society’s dissatisfaction with Gaddafi’s corrupt authoritarian rule, as well as with unemployment and poverty, found an outlet in January 2011, when mass protests broke out in other African countries. The international significance of Libya was mainly determined by its oil reserves and – to a lesser extent – natural gas reserves. In the humanitarian context, for example, British Prime Minister Cameron issued statements comparing the situation in Libya to the events in Srebrenica during the Bosnian War and expressing the desire to prevent a similar humanitarian disaster.
