Italian settlers in Libya terms of the 1947 peace treaty with the Allies, Italy relinquished all claims to Libya. On November 21, 1949, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution stating that Libya should become independent before January 1, 1952. On December 24, 1951, Libya declared its independence as the United Kingdom of Libya, a constitutional and hereditary monarchy. The Italian population virtually disappeared after the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ordered the expulsion of remaining Italians (about 20,000) in 1970. Only a few hundred of them have been allowed to return to Libya in the 2000s. On 30 August 2008, Gaddafi and Italian Prime
History of Africa about one-third of the eligible white men). As early as 1857, the French established volunteer units of black soldiers in sub- Sahara Africa, termed the "tirailleurs senegalais." They served in military operations throughout the Empire, including 171,000 soldiers in World War I and 160,000 in World War II. About 90,000 became POWs in Germany. The veterans played a central role in the postwar independence movement in French Africa. authorities in West Africa declared allegiance to the Vichy regime, as did the colony of French Gabon Vichy forces defeated an Free French Forces invasion of French West Africa in the two