[14][15] Italy had seized military control of Libya from the Ottoman Empire during the Italo-Turkish War in 1912,[16] but the new colony had swiftly revolted, transferring large swaths of territory to local Libyan rule.

[20] Local resistance against Italy continued, such that by 1920, the Italian government was forced to recognize Senussi leader Sayid Idris as Emir of Cyrenaica and grant him autonomy.

Given the importance that the Fascists gave to Libya as part of a new Italian Empire, this incident served as a useful pretext for large-scale military action to reclaim it.

Using aircraft, motor transport and good logistical organization, the Italians were occupied 150,000 square kilometres (58,000 sq mi) of territory in five months,[25] cutting off the physical connection formerly held by the rebels between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania.

In that period, they also regained the northern lowlands of Cyrenaica,[21] but attempts to occupy the forested hills of Jebel Akhtar were met with strong guerrilla resistance, led by Senussi sheikh Omar Mukhtar.

[25] On 20 June 1930, Pietro Badoglio wrote to General Graziani: "As for overall strategy, it is necessary to create a significant and clear separation between the controlled population and the rebel formations.

[28] By 1931, well over half the population of Cyrenaica were confined to 15 concentration camps where many died as result of overcrowding in combination with a lack of water, food and medicine while Badoglio had the Air Force use chemical warfare against the Bedouin rebels in the desert.

[29] Typhus and other diseases spread rapidly in the camps as the people were physically weakened due to meagre food rations and forced labour.

[27] In September 1931, during the Battle of Uadi Bu Taga, Mukhtar was wounded and then captured by the Libyan Savari of the Italian Army,[30] followed by a court martial and his public execution by hanging at Suluq.

[32] After the failed negotiations with Omar Mukhtar, the Italian occupying power renewed its repressive policy against the Cyrenean resistance with arrests and shootings in November 1929.

Graziani, notorious for his firmness in fascist principles, had just completed the conquest of Fezzan and had made a name for himself as the "butcher of Fessan" in years of guerrilla warfare.

[33] Colonial Minister De Bono regarded an escalation of violence as inevitable for the “pacification” of the region and on 10 January 1930, in a telegram to Badoglio, suggested the establishment of concentration camps (""campi di concentramento"") for the first time.

Since the non-combatant population ensured the reproductive conditions of the adwar system and formed the social basis of the resistance movement, they were now classified as dangerous potential by the colonial administration.

In addition, Graziani ordered the complete disarmament of the non-combatant population as well as draconian punishments in the event of civilians cooperating with Omar Mukhtar's adwar combat groups.

[36] In a carefully prepared and coordinated operation with ten differently-composed columns, Graziani tried from 16 June 1930, to encircle and destroy the units of Omar Mukhtar.

[37] At this point, Badoglio took the initiative again and emphatically proposed a new dimension of repressive measures: By deporting the people of the Jabal-Achdar Mountains, he literally wanted to create an empty space around the adwar combat units.

[38] Guarded by mainly Eritrean colonial troops, the entire population was forced, together with their belongings and cattle, on death marches that sometimes led over hundreds of kilometers for 20 weeks.

[1] According to Knud Holmboe tribal villages were being bombed with mustard gas by the spring of 1930, and suspects were hanged or shot in the back, with estimated thirty executions taking place daily.

[41] Angelo Del Boca estimated between 40,000 and 70,000 total Libyan dead due to forced deportations, starvation and disease inside the concentration camps, and hanging and executions.

Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's ruler at the time, attended the signing ceremony wearing a historical photograph on his uniform that showed Cyrenaican rebel leader Omar Mukhtar in chains after being captured by Italian authorities during the war.

At the ceremony, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declared: "In this historic document, Italy apologizes for its killing, destruction and repression of the Libyan people during the period of colonial rule."