Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf
Encyclopedia
Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf is the former leader of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya
(NFSL), a splinter opposition group to Muammar Gaddafi in the 1980s. He was formerly Libyan ambassador to India and before that was head of the board of auditors at the Libyan revenue court. According to the International Security Council he was "generally unknown in Libya except as a former functionary of the regime and without the capability of building a power base in the country, [he] nonetheless refused to pay heed to the advice of the more realistic opposition".
The NFSL was founded in 1981, allegedly with CIA and Saudi Arabian funding. According to Magariaf's own testimony, he traveled using passports with three different names, besides his own: "I carry three passports for the three identities I customarily use. The first in the name of Mohamed Khalil is a Jordanian diplomatic passport, the second in the name of Mohamed Ben Abdellah is an Algerian diplomatic passport, and as to the third, in the name of Abdellah Hassani, it is a regular Moroccan passport. I do not wish to specify the way I obtained these passports, in order to avoid embarrassing the countries concerned." Critics within the NFSL accused him of centralizing and controlling all authority, information and funding unto himself. The group and Magariaf were caught off-guard by the speed of events in Libya in 2011, and played little role in them.
Magariaf's son, Tarik Yousef
, served one term as the second dean of the Dubai School of Government
(2007–2011).
National Front for the Salvation of Libya
The National Front for the Salvation of Libya is an opposition movement to Muammar al-Gaddafi's regime in Libya. NFSL was established on 7 October 1981 at a press conference held in Khartoum, Sudan...
(NFSL), a splinter opposition group to Muammar Gaddafi in the 1980s. He was formerly Libyan ambassador to India and before that was head of the board of auditors at the Libyan revenue court. According to the International Security Council he was "generally unknown in Libya except as a former functionary of the regime and without the capability of building a power base in the country, [he] nonetheless refused to pay heed to the advice of the more realistic opposition".
The NFSL was founded in 1981, allegedly with CIA and Saudi Arabian funding. According to Magariaf's own testimony, he traveled using passports with three different names, besides his own: "I carry three passports for the three identities I customarily use. The first in the name of Mohamed Khalil is a Jordanian diplomatic passport, the second in the name of Mohamed Ben Abdellah is an Algerian diplomatic passport, and as to the third, in the name of Abdellah Hassani, it is a regular Moroccan passport. I do not wish to specify the way I obtained these passports, in order to avoid embarrassing the countries concerned." Critics within the NFSL accused him of centralizing and controlling all authority, information and funding unto himself. The group and Magariaf were caught off-guard by the speed of events in Libya in 2011, and played little role in them.
Magariaf's son, Tarik Yousef
Tarik Yousef
Dr. Tarik Yousef el-Magariaf was an Associate Professor of Economics in the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at the , at Georgetown University. He is the son of Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, Libya's former ambassador to India and the Secretary General of the 1980s group, the National Front for...
, served one term as the second dean of the Dubai School of Government
Dubai School of Government
The Dubai School of Government is a research and teaching institution in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which focuses on public policy in the Arab world. The School was established in 2005 under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United...
(2007–2011).