Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi
Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi (1873 – 10 March 1933) was the supreme leader of the Senussi order (1902–1933), although his leadership in the years 1917–1933 could be considered nominal. His daughter, Fatimah el-Sharif was the Queen consort of King Idris I of Libya. Ahmed Sharif was the grandson of Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi, who founded the Senussi religious order in Cyrenaica in the middle of nineteenth century. In 1895, as-Senussi accompanied his father, Mohammed ash Sharif, and his uncle Mohammed el Mahdi, then leader of the Senussi order, on their trip from Jaghbub to Kufra, where they remained until 1899, and where Ahmed's father died in 1896. In 1899 Mohammed el Mahdi and as-Senussi moved from Kufra to Zawiat Guru, in Chad, then to Bergo, aiming to check the French advance in Chad. In 1900, the French forces approached to Kanem, Mohammed el Mahdi assigned his nephew Ahmed to lead the struggle. Between those who fought with Mohammed el Barrani (Ruler of Zawiyat Ber Alali in Kanem), and Omar Al-Mukhtar, the future resistance leader in Libya. On 1 June 1902, Mohammed el Mahdi died. Because his son Mohammed Idris was only 12 years old, he named, before his death, his nephew Ahmed Sharif to be his successor. Ahmed ash Sharif continued the struggle against the French in Chad which resulted at last into a failure as the French forces took Wadai on 1909.
Bands (Italian: Bande) was an Italian military term for irregular forces, composed of natives, with Italian officers and NCOs in command. These units were employed by the Italian Army as auxiliaries to the regular national and colonial military forces. They were also known to the British colonial forces as "armed Bands". A Banda (singular) was approximatively company sized with 100 - 200 men. An individual member of a "band" was called a "Gregario". The larger unit was the battalion size Gruppo Band (infantry) or Gruppo Squadron (cavalry). The Milizi a regimental unit appeared briefly during the fascist period in the Balkans. The first of these irregular units employed by the Regio Esercito originated from a mercenary Arab force employed by the Ottoman Empire, called Bashi-bazouk (which became "basci buzuk" in Italian), that was created in Eritrea by the Albanian adventurer Sagiak Hassan in the second half of the 19th century. In 1885, the Italian Colonel Tancredi Saletta, commanding officer of the first Italian troops involved in the conquest of Eritrea, enlisted Bashi-bazouks in the service of Italy. As lightly armed irregulars the Banda were able to perform duties for which regular Italian and colonial troops were unsuited and at lower cost. Locally recruited bands were employed in the conquest of Italian Libya
The Senusiyya, Senussi or Sanusi are a Muslim political-religious Sufi order and clan in colonial Libya and the Sudan region founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Grand Sanussi, the Algerian Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi. Sanusi was concerned with what he saw as both the decline of Islamic thought and spirituality and the weakening of Muslim political integrity. The movement promoted strict adherence to Qur'an and Sunnah without partisanship to the traditional legal schools of thought. It also sought a reformation of Sufism, condemning various practices such as seeking help from the dead, sacrificing for them and other rituals which they considered to be superstitions and innovations. From 1902 to 1913, the Sanussi fought French colonial expansion in the Sahara and the Kingdom of Italy's colonisation of Libya beginning in 1911. In World War I, they fought the Senussi campaign against the British in Egypt and Sudan. In 1923, indigenous rebels associated with the Sanussi order organized the Libyan resistance movement against Italian settlement in Libya. During World War II, the Sanussis provided vital support to the British Eighth Army in North Africa against Nazi and Fascist Italian forces. The Grand Sanussi's grandson became King Idris of Libya in 1951. In 1969, a military coup led by Muammar
Gaddafi overthrew him. The movement remained active in spite of sustained persecution by Gaddafi's government. The Sanusi spirit and legacy continue to be prominent in today's Libya, mostly in the east of the country.
Awards: Sash and star of the Order of Osmanieh.
