Hun, Libya


Hun or Houn is an oasis town in the northern Fezzan region of southwest Libya. The town is the capital of the Jufra District. The "International Autumn Tourism Festival", is an annual festival usually held at the end of September.

History

During the colonial Italian Libya period, Hun was the administrative capital of the Italian Fezzan region, called Territorio del Sahara Libico. Hun was the Italian military center of southern Italian Libya, and was not part of the national Fourth Shore territory of the Kingdom of Italy as Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica. In the 1939 census Italians were 3% of the total population of 35,316 in the city. They disappeared from Hun after Italy's loss of Libya in World War II. An important Libyan Italian born in Hun was the internationally renowned painter Mario Schifano. In the 1930s the Italian government made some important improvements to the small town, including a connection to the coast via the new Fezzan Road.
During the Libyan Civil War, on 8 May 2011, NATO hit 8 headquarters compound buildings, 12 ammunition storage and 20 vehicle storage.

Geography

Hun is about halfway between Sabha and the Mediterranean coast in the Sahara Desert. The natural landscape around Hun mainly consists of black basalt mountains, with extensive sand dunes, and date palm trees - Phoenix dactylifera groves indicating oases. The cities of Waddan and Sokna are the nearest settlements. There is a ruined ksar and several mosques in the city of Waddan. All three towns are oases characterized by the abundance of natural springs and date palm trees. Hun has a hot desert climate with long, extremely hot summers and short, warm winters as well as very little rainfall throughout the year. In this part of the desert, summer daytime temperatures are a bit moderated due to the influence of the cooler offshore winds from the Mediterranean Sea, although averages high temperatures consistently exceed 40 °C during the hottest months of the year. The region receives an average annual rainfall of.

Economy and culture

There are public buses to the cities of Sirte and Sabha. There is also a military airport located between Hun and Waddan, Al Jufra Airbase. Hun is 240 km south of Sirte, 370 km from Misrata and 272 km north of Sabha. The "International Autumn Tourism Festival", is an annual festival usually held at the end of September. It is organized for four days every year from 1996. It is aimed at promoting tourism and culture and organizes concerts and exhibitions.