Berber beauty

The culture of the Jabal Nafusa is for the most part Berber. Historically, the Berber held the lands of the Jafara Plain with the main centre at Sabratha. In medieval times, they were driven back into the hills by the Arab invaders. The relative isolation of the Berber communities has meant not only a survival of their language and close kinship tie but also quite district urban farms and housing styles. In religion the Berber are Muslim but follow the Ibadite branch of Islam, regarded by many Sunni Muslims as a heresy. The Berbers are aggressively separated from the Arabs on the Jabal Nafusa however much they live in harmony with the Arab tribes elsewhere in Libya. The Berber of the Jabal Nafusa participated in the revolt against the Arab rule, the most the most ferocious of which took place in 896 AD.

The Berber had been a favoured group under the Italian occupation, making up important parts of the police forces in Tripolitania. On independence it was hoped that Berber culture separateness would be acknowledged and their language given equal status with the Arabic. The rise of Arab nationalism at this time forestalled any chance that the numbers of Berbers, a sizeable minority population estimated at around 150,000 at that time could make their voce heard. The revolution of 1969 has given support to Berber identity. Despite of the rapid economic changes resulting from oil wealth, the Berbers still keep a sense of cultural separateness and superiority.

The revolution of 1969 is doing its best to improve the quality of life in Jabal Nafusa. The Great Man-Made River has now reached Jabal Nafusa, gushing forth of sweet unpolluted water to the homes and farmers of Jabal Nafusa.

Started in 1980 the Great Man-Made River project is the largest engineering scheme currently being carried out in the world. The Great Man-Made River Authority (GMRA) was invested with the responsibility of extracting water from the aquifers in the South and conveying it for use in the Libyan coastal belt and rural areas.