The economic legacy of a dictator - Week 7 - Anou Christiaens

Hello everyone!

We’re in Libya today. I hear you thinking “Oh my god, what are they doing in a country at war?!”. Well, we thought it might be interesting to visit a country that’s recovering from a war. Libya has been mentioned in the news a lot lately. Everyone knows that Moammar al-Qadhafi was murdered by rebels because they didn’t like his regime. But that’s the political side of Libya and for that, I advise you to read the blog of my friend Romina. I’m going to tell you something more about the economy of Libya.

Because of the recent civil war in this country, economy is not worth a lot. A lot of businesses are destroyed because of it. There are no funds to restore them because of Qadhafi’s regime. The benefits of the oil exploitation, extraction and sales went straight into the pockets of Qadhafi. That’s clearly noticeable because we didn’t see a lot of shops or businesses that were open. It’s very weird to see a street where all the windows and shops are destroyed.

When we were walking down some streets ( with a guide of course, otherwise it wouldn’t be safe for us! ), we saw a lot of pictures of a dead Qadhafi. It’s clear that the people of Libya are still euphoric about the succeeded killing of Qadhafi.

It’s not all bad in Libya. In Anneleen’s blog you can read about the culture of Libya. This brings a positive light on Libya so I strongly advise you to read it because I don’t want you to think that Libya is a bad country. The people there are very strong and courageous. They have successfully taken control and it’s because of common people that Qadhafi is no longer their leader. That deserves a thumps up.

I hope you enjoyed my blog about Libya! Talk to you soon!

Xoxo Anou

 Sources:

http://www.consultancyafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=863:post-gaddafi-libya-what-does-the-economy-look-like&catid=87:african-finance-a-economy&Itemid=294

http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/interview/2011/libya-interview-2011-10-27.htm