18 June 2012 Last updated at 09:49

In pictures: Unseen Muammar Gaddafi-era archive in Libya

Libya's leader Col Muammar Gaddafi in the desert with friends in Libya, circa 1973

A unique archive of photographs from Libya, spanning the reign of King Idris al-Sanusi and the North African country’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, is going on show this week as part of the London Festival of Photography. This shot shows the young army officer turned coup leader relaxing with friends in the desert several years after he ousted the king.

Formal portrait of Libya's King Idris al-Sanusi with his handwritten inscription to King Hassan II of Morocco

King Idris led Libya from independence in 1951. This formal portrait has a handwritten note dated 11 March 1965 to fellow Moroccan monarch, King Hassan II, which reads: “For the memory of brotherhood.” Four years later he was ousted by Gaddafi and ended his days in exile in Egypt.

Queen Elizabeth II (left) of the UK with Libya's King Idris (3rd from left), the Duke of Edinburgh (R) in Tobruk May 1954 with a British military official (2nd left)

During World War II, the king sided with the British against the Italian colonisers of Libya. This shot, taken shortly after independence, shows Queen Elizabeth II visiting Tobruk - where the British had an airbase that Gaddafi closed in 1970. The new leader wanted to right what he felt were the wrongs of foreign domination.

Egyptian President Nasser and Colonel Gamal Abdul Gaddafi greet a fan at Benghazi Stadium during Nasser's visit to Libya, December 1969

This included nationalising the oil industry and renegotiating contracts with oil firms - threatening to shut off production if they refused his terms. He was a huge admirer of Egypt's independence leader, President Gamal Abdul Nasser, seen here at a stadium in Benghazi in December 1969.

Col Jaafar Muhammad Numeiri of Sudan, Colonel Gaddafi and President Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt mobbed by crowds - Tripoli, 25 December 1969

During his 42-year rule, Gaddafi had a quixotic and often paradoxical foreign policy. At first he followed a pan-Arab agenda. Here crowds mob Gaddafi and his Sudanese and Egyptian counterparts in Tripoli in 1969.

Col Jaafar Muhammad Numeiri of Sudan, Colonel Gaddafi and President Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt wave to crowds in Benghazi sports stadium, December 1969

Gaddafi attempted to merge with several Arab countries, including Egypt, Syria and Tunisia - but none of these ever took off. In the 1990s he turned his attention to sub-Saharan African, where he found his country's wealth could often buy more influence.

Colonel Gaddafi and PLO leader Yasser Arafat circa 1970 possibly for the first anniversary of the revolution of 1969

Gaddafi became notorious in the West for backing groups such as the Irish Republican Army. He also had fairly close ties with the Palestine Liberation Organisation, then led by Yasser Arafat - seen here on a visit to Libya.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (R) and Leonid Brezhnev, general secretary of the Soviet Union, holding hands in Moscow, 27 April 1981

But he tended to blow hot and cold in his relations with most leaders – Gaddafi is seen here holding hands with Soviet Union ruler Leonid Brezhnev in 1981.

Two people who had been executed at Benghazi sea port, 7 April 1977

In 1977, the Libyan leader declared a "people's revolution", setting up "revolutionary committees" which heralded a more repressive period. This photo shows a public hanging in that year in Benghazi, the city where the revolution began in February 2011 and ended in Gaddafi's death in October that year.

Colonel Gaddafi in air force uniform at an Arab Summit in Tripoli, Libya - 2 December 1977

The photo archive has been collated by Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch's emergencies director, from pictures and documents discovered in state intelligence buildings and destroyed Gaddafi residences in the wake of last year’s Libyan uprising. The Gaddafi Archives - Libya Before the Arab Spring opens at London’s Slade Research Centre on 21 June

Africa

In pictures: Unseen Muammar Gaddafi-era archive in Libya

Share this page

Services

About BBC News