Salah Masoud Busir (Arabic: صالح مسعود بويصير‎, 1925 – February 21, 1973) was a Libyan politician, journalist, and historian. Born into a merchant family, he grew to have a successful career in journalism, politics, and science. He was an advocate for Arab values and for the independence of Libya from Italy. Busir was a strong opponent of first the Italian colonial occupation of Libya, and later the United Kingdom as well as the Libyan monarchy. As a result of this, he was forced to emigrate from Libya on two separate occasions. The 1969 Libyan coup d'état and subsequent coming to power of Muammar Gaddafi in 1969 allowed him to return from his 14-year exile. He became the first Foreign Minister of the Libyan Arab Republic and sought to eliminate foreign military bases in Libya. In 1972, he