Operation Idris: Inside the British Administration of Cyrenaica and Libya, 1942-52 (Silphium Press, 2015, paperback, 248pp, £18). This book looks beneath the veneer of the British administration of eastern Libya (Cyrenaica) from the time that Rommel’s Africa Korps was driven out of North Africa by the Allied forces. Drawing on the diaries and memoir of his father, who served in the administration, Richard Synge provides the essential detail of Britain’s overall political strategy for the territory, which prioritised promoting the interests of the Sanussi brotherhood and its leader, Sayyid Mohammed Idris. Jason Pack’s Foreword provides essential historical context on the Anglo-Sanussi relationship, which was central to the British plan for indirect rule in Cyrenaica. As this ideological attachment to the Sanussiyya was part of the "Activist Arabist" creed, it was not necessarily shared by all British administrators. Peter Synge questioned the wisdom of treating the Sanussiyya as nobles and implanting them on top of Cyrenaican society as such was booted out of the administration by Duncan Cameron Cumming. The book’s narrative shows that even as the post-war negotiations over the future of Libya became stalled, Britain ensured the triumphant permanent return of Idris from exile in 1947 and encouraged and underwrote his unilateral declaration of Cyrenaican independence in 1949. These were the first steps to Idris being accepted as ruler of independent Libya in 1951. The book is now available by clicking here. You can read Jason Pack's Foreword by downloading it as a pdf by clicking here. And you can explore the beginning of the book by reading the introduction by downloading it by clicking here. This content is presented exclusively through a deal between Silphium Press and Libya-Analysis.
Operation Idris