banning by the regime has been a serious political mistake, because of the sudden lack of a major mediating element, which only in recent years the government and the Libyan Military have discreetly sought to retrieve. Not least because Saif al-Islām, the Gaddafi’s second son and the most available to dialogue with some anti-regime forces, was a son of Safia Farkash, who, in turn, belonged to al-Bara’asi tribe, traditionally close to King Idrīs.

Since the 2011 Revolution, domestic issues about power management have emerged, such as the atavic theme of relationship between central government and tribes, but also the role of the rebels’ armed militias in this dramatic period of transition. As for the first subject, Libyan public opinion seems to be again inclined towards the rejection of relyingany subsequent secession and to avert the hazard from religious extreme fringes satisfying foreign regional powers.

Now, after the election of the Constituent Assembly last February, it’s widely believed the State institutional form should be debated in all its possible options and the Libyans are entitled to be consulted on. If a constitutional Monarchy might be reintroduced, two members of Sanūsī dynasty may contend for the throne:

Prince Sayyid Moḥamed ar-Riḍa bin Ḥasan (son of Sayyid Ḥasan ar-Riḍa al-Mahdī, failed successor designated by King Idrīs), 51, who lives in exile in London and has already been contacted by Minister Abdelaziz to test his availability;

Sayyid Idrīs bin ‘Abdullāh (belonging to a side branch), 57, former businessman in the oil industry living in exile in Rome. He married the Spanish aristocratic Ana