On the main Place des Martyrs, the red carpet is rolled out Thursday night for a 600-year-old cannon, jealously guarded by officers wearing a beret. A few minutes before the call to prayer, which announces the end of the Muslim fast, the powder explodes, at the beginning of the month of Ramadan.

This old tradition spread in the Muslim world had not been revived since the late 1970s and the beginning of the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi, who wanted to make a clean sweep of Libyan history. But for the new authorities, "nothing stands in the way" of the "iftar canon", the meal to break the fast.

"This is a way to bring joy to the people of Tripoli," said Akram Dribika, a city councillor overseeing the event. For him, it is a question of conveying the "message of a return to life" in Libya.

"Very important"

Since Gaddafi's death in 2011, in the midst of the Arab Spring, Libya has experienced political chaos and armed violence between rival camps. But society has also rediscovered its taste for the culture, history and traditions of a country with a very rich heritage.

The origin of the iftar canon remains uncertain. It would have been born in Ottoman Egypt two centuries ago, before the democratization of watches and technologies. The cannon shot then allowed the authorities to warn the faithful of the imminence of the end of the fast at sunset.

In purple djellaba, Nouri Sayeh was only "passing" through Martyrs' Square before coming across this "nice surprise" of the iftar canon put back in the spotlight.

"For Ramadan, our heritage, our traditions, it is something very important that must continue to exist," said the 32-year-old trader.

Onlookers in a neighborhood decorated for the festivities of the month of Ramadan in Tripoli, March 23, 2023 © Mahmud Turkia / AFP

The event is part of efforts by authorities and civil society to revive Tripoli's old medina, now undergoing renovation, after being abused during Gaddafi's 40-year rule.

Artists, artisans and other traders bring to life the cobbled alleys and buildings that recall the passage in Libya of Roman, Greek and Ottoman civilizations.

"Admire the view"

After the iftar meal, the medina fills with families buying cotton candy and young people chatting on benches drinking coffee, while others take selfies in front of Ramadan decorations.

For the second year in a row, the municipality adorned the main squares and alleys with illuminated garlands, traditional lanterns and other large installations in the shape of a crescent moon, symbol of Islam.

Growing up in the neighborhood, Racha bin Ghara is delighted to see the crowds and lights when she previously had to "use the phone bulb to walk" through the once unpaved alleys of the old city.

At a barbapapa booth in Tripoli, March 23, 2023 © Mahmud Turkia / AFP

"People only came to shop at the souk but not like today to admire the view and the heritage," the 35-year-old civil servant recalls.

Even the youngest, present in number, express by their strong presence their attachment to the medina. At 20 years old, Motassam Hassan even hopes that all of Libya, including the less developed peripheries, will follow this "evolution".

For this computer science student, "what we see in the medina must also happen in all other places, even outside Tripoli, which must be illuminated in this way".

© 2023 AFP