By H.E Amb.Abdelsla Erlgeey (Libyan Diplomat)
After the Second World War, the four Allied Powers faced a complex question: what should be done with Italy’s former colonies? Despite four rounds of negotiations, the Allies failed to reach an agreement. They therefore resolved to send delegations to the former colonies—Libya included—to consult local populations. It was further agreed that if a settlement could not be reached in a fifth meeting, the issue would be referred to the United Nations.
When that fifth meeting also ended without consensus, the “Libyan question” was formally placed before the UN General Assembly. Several competing proposals emerged, each reflecting the geopolitical ambitions of its sponsors.
1. The Latin Project
This initiative was crafted through Italian diplomatic channels and rested on two core ideas: shared ethnic origin and common religion.
Italy persuaded Latin American nations that their peoples shared a Latin heritage with Italians, Spaniards, and Portuguese, and that their mutual Catholic faith—rooted in the Vatican—created a natural bond. Leveraging this sentiment, Italy encouraged these states to submit a proposal to the UN calling for the return of all former Italian colonies to Italian administration.
2. The British–Italian Project (The Bevin–Sforza Agreement)
When Britain learned of the Latin Project and noted that Latin American countries formed a voting majority in the UN, it foresaw that Italy might regain its colonies through this diplomatic maneuver. To counter this, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin met with his Italian counterpart, Count Carlo Sforza.
The result was the Bevin–Sforza Agreement, which proposed that Libya be divided into three trusteeship zones:
- Tripolitania under Italian trusteeship
- Cyrenaica under British trusteeship
- Fezzan under French trusteeship
The trusteeship would last ten years, after which the United Nations would consider granting Libya full independence as a unified state. In return, Italy agreed to persuade Latin American countries to withdraw the Latin Project.
3. The Soviet–Indian Project
The Soviet Union, working in coordination with India, advanced a counterproposal to place Libya under a collective trusteeship involving the four Allied Powers—alongside Pakistan and Egypt.
4. The Arab Project
The six Arab states then represented at the UN proposed a straightforward solution: Libya should be granted full and immediate independence.
The UN General Assembly referred all four proposals to its Political Committee, which formed a Committee of Fifteen to study them. Under British influence, the Latin American bloc withdrew the Latin Project. The Committee of Fifteen then dismissed both the Soviet–Indian and Arab proposals, returning only the British–Italian plan for a vote.
The plan narrowly passed the Political Committee, largely due to Haiti’s representative, Mr. Émile Saint-Lot, who voted in favor—while Britain itself abstained. When the proposal reached the General Assembly, however, Britain demanded a split vote: first on the principle of trusteeship, and second on the specific Bevin–Sforza plan.
In the tense period before the vote, both the Libyan delegation and British diplomats lobbied Saint-Lot to reconsider his support. Accounts of his eventual change of heart vary—some claim he was persuaded by moral arguments and evidence of Italian colonial abuses, others suggest inducements or late-night persuasion played a role.
Whatever the reason, Saint-Lot ultimately voted against the trusteeship. As a result, both the general principle of trusteeship and the specific British–Italian plan failed to secure the required two-thirds majority.
All efforts to place Libya under trusteeship thus collapsed.
General Observations
- British diplomacy during the Allied meetings sought above all to prevent Soviet influence in North Africa.
- Italian diplomacy leveraged shared ethnic and religious identities to win Latin American support.
- Britain’s negotiation with Italy effectively neutralized the Latin Project through the Bevin–Sforza understanding.
- British influence at the UN sidelined both the Arab and Soviet–Indian proposals in committee deliberations.
- The procedural division of the General Assembly vote was a calculated British tactic that ultimately blocked Italian trusteeship.
- The Libyan delegation’s engagement with Haiti’s representative proved decisive in defeating the trusteeship plan—though Saint-Lot’s controversial role led to his dismissal by his government. He later served as adviser at the Libyan Embassy in Washington under King Idris, remaining there until his removal following Muammar Gaddafi’s rise to power.
- After the collapse of all four proposals in May 1949, the question of Libyan independence returned to the General Assembly.
- On 1 June 1949, Emir Idris al-Sanusi proclaimed the independence of the Emirate of Cyrenaica.
- In November 1949, the UN General Assembly resolved that Libya should become a fully independent state no later than 1 January 1952.
The Libyan case at the United Nations stands as a striking example of how global power politics, colonial ambitions, and principled advocacy for self-determination collided in the postwar world. In the end, a mix of diplomatic maneuvering, moral persuasion, and historical circumstance led to Libya’s emergence as an independent nation—defying the designs of empires old and new.
