Country profile: Libya

[Salem6]

Libya, once shunned by much of the international community over the 1988 bombing of a PanAm plane above the Scottish town of Lockerbie, has undergone a dramatic rehabilitation.

Tripoli formally took responsibility for the incident in 2003. The move, part of a deal to compensate families of the 270 victims, heralded the lifting of UN sanctions.

Months later, Libya renounced weapons of mass destruction, paving the way for a further blossoming of relations with the West.



Overview
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A former Roman colony, Libya is a mostly desert country which saw invasions by Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks and more recently Italians before gaining independence in 1951.


AT-A-GLANCE

Politics: Colonel Gaddafi took power in a 1969 coup; he presides over a system of "people's congresses"
Economy: Libya has large reserves of oil and gas; proposed reform of state-run economy has met with political opposition
International: Libya returned to the diplomatic fold after renouncing weapons of mass destruction and paying compensation for the Lockerbie bombing

Timeline
Oil was discovered in 1959. With it, the country was transformed into a wealthy monarchy. Ten years later, though, the king was overthrown in a coup led by the 27-year-old Muammar Gaddafi, and Libya embarked on a radically new chapter in its history.


Colonel Gaddafi's revolution has been based largely on distinguishing his country from the world around it. Ideas put forward in his Green Book aim at an alternative to both communism and capitalism, while Islam is adhered to but with a unique slant - Libya has its own calendar based on Muhammad's death, for example.


Colonel Gaddafi called the new system a jamahiriya, loosely translated as a "state of the masses". Power is held by various people's committees, while in practice Gaddafi rules unopposed.


Libya was blamed for the Lockerbie plane bombing, and two Libyans suspected of organising the incident were handed over in 1999 for trial in The Hague under Scottish law. In 2001 one of the suspects was found guilty of killing 270 people in the bombing.


Libya possesses considerable reserves of oil and gas, but the sector remains relatively undeveloped.


Facts
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Full name: The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Population: 6.2 million (UN, 2007)
Capital: Tripoli
Area: 1.77 million sq km (685,524 sq miles)
Major language: Arabic
Major religion: Islam
Life expectancy: 72 years (men), 77 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Libyan dinar (LD) = 1,000 dirhams
Main exports: Crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas
GNI per capita: US $5,530 (World Bank, 2006)
Internet domain: .ly
International dialling code: +218


Leaders
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Head of state: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi


Once regarded as a pariah by the West, Colonel Gaddafi began his return to the international fold after Libya settled the Lockerbie bombing claims and agreed to stop developing weapons of mass destruction.


Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi seized power in 1969


Western politicians, including the British, Italian, French and German leaders, have since visited Tripoli.


Muammar Gaddafi is the Arab world's longest-serving leader. A shrewd operator, he survived several attempts on his life and reinvented Libya's system of government.


The colonel came to power in a bloodless coup in 1969 against the ailing King Idris I. He was inspired by the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser, who dominated Arab politics in the 1950s and 1960s.


A staunch Arab nationalist, Col Gaddafi's attempts to forge unity with other Arab states met with little success. In the 1990s he turned to Africa and proposed a "United States of Africa". The concept later found form as the African Union.


In the late 1970s Col Gaddafi introduced the jamahiriya - a system of governance based around "people's committees" and free of partisan politics. By the late 1980s he had given up his official titles to become leader of the revolution, while retaining absolute power.


Over the years Col Gaddafi has supported a broad range of militant groups, including the Irish Republican Army and the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Libya's alleged involvement in attacks in Europe in the 1980s triggered US military strikes in 1986. Dozens of people were killed, including the Libyan leader's adopted daughter.


One of Col Gaddafi's sons, Sayf al-Islam Gaddafi, is said to be behind the drive to break Libya's isolation. He has denied reports that he is being groomed to succeed his father.


Muammar Gaddafi was born in the desert near Sirte in 1942. He married twice and has eight children.




Media
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Media rights body Reporters Without Borders has said press freedom is "virtually non-existent" in Libya, with self-censorship being commonplace.

The state owns and strictly controls most media outlets and the authorities do not permit the publication of opinions contrary to government policy.

Some international publications are available, but the authorities routinely censor them and may halt their distribution. Few press visas are issued to foreign journalists.

However, pan-Arab satellite TV stations are freely available and internet access is said to be unfettered, though closely monitored.

The Libyan Jamahiriyah Broadcasting Corporation is the state broadcaster. The first non-state TV station, Al-Libiyah satellite TV, launched in 2007.

The external radio service was renamed the Voice of Africa in 1998, to reflect a change in political orientation towards Africa and away from the Middle East Arab world.

The press


Al-Fajr al-Jadid - controlled by an arm of the information ministry
Al-Shams - controlled by an arm of the information ministry
Al-Jamahiriyah - controlled by an arm of the information ministry
Al-Zahf Al-Akhdar - controlled by the Revolutionary Committees Movement
The Tripoli Post - English-language weekly
Television

Great Jamahiriyah TV - state-run, available terrestrially and via satellite
Al-Libiyah - private, via satellite
Radio

Great Jamahiriyah Radio - state-run
Voice of Africa - state-run external service
Al-Libiyah FM - private
News agency


Jana (Jamahiriyah News Agency) - state-run



news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/819291.stm

[Salem6]

As Libya seals its return to the international fold this week with a visit from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Muammar Gaddafi has marked the 39th anniversary of his rise to power with promises to overhaul the country's political system.


Col Gaddafi seems to have a fresh outfit for every occasion

Col Gaddafi is the longest-serving leader in the Arab world, having ruled Libya since he toppled King Idris I in a bloodless coup at the age of 27.

Known for his flamboyant dress-sense and gun-toting female body guards, the Libyan leader is also considered a skilled political operator who moved swiftly to bring his country out of diplomatic isolation.

It was in 2003 - after some two decades of pariah status - that Tripoli formally took responsibility for the bombing of a Pan Am plane over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, paving the way for the UN to lift sanctions.

Months later, Col Gadaffi's regime abandoned efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, triggering a fuller rapprochement with the West.

That saw him complete a transition from international outcast to an accepted, if unpredictable, leader.

"He's unique in his discourse, in his behaviour, in his practice and in his strategy," says Libya analyst Saad Djebbar.

"But he's a shrewd politician, make no mistake about that. He's a political survivor of the first order."

Bedouin roots

Muammar Gaddafi was born in the desert near Sirte in 1942.

In his youth he was an admirer of Egyptian leader and Arab nationalist Gamal Abdel Nasser, taking part in anti-Israel protests during the Suez crisis in 1956.




Shrewd Gaddafi plays host

He first hatched plans to topple the monarchy at military college, and received further army training in Britain before returning to the Libyan city of Benghazi and launching his coup there on 1 September 1969.

He laid out his political philosophy in the 1970s in his Green Book, which charted a home-grown alternative to both socialism and capitalism, combined with aspects of Islam.

In 1977 he invented a system called the "Jamahiriya" or "state of the masses", in which power is meant to be held by thousands of "peoples' committees".

The Libyan leader's singular approach is not limited to political philosophy.

On foreign trips he sets up camp in a luxury Bedouin tent and is accompanied by armed female bodyguards - said to be considered less easily distracted than their male counterparts.

A tent is also used to receive visitors in Libya, where Col Gaddafi sits through meetings or interviews swishing the air with a horsehair or palm leaf fly-swatter.

Idiosyncratic

Benjamin Barber, an independent political analyst from the US who has met Col Gaddafi several times recently to discuss Libya's future, says the Libyan leader "sees himself very much as an intellectual".

"As a man he is surprisingly philosophical and reflective in his temperament - for an autocrat," he told the BBC News website.


Gaddafi hosts fellow heads of state in a Bedouin tent

"I see him very much as a Berber tribesman, somebody who came out of a culture informed by the desert, by the sand, and in some ways very atypical of modern leadership, and that's given him a certain endurance and persistence."

Col Gaddafi has long tried to exert his influence over the region and beyond.

Early on, he sent his army into Chad, where it occupied the Aozou Strip in the north of the country in 1973.

In the 1980s, he hosted training camps for rebel groups from across West Africa, including Tuaregs, who are part of the Berber community.

More recently, he has led efforts to mediate with Tuareg rebels in Niger and Mali.

'Mad dog'

The diplomatic community's rejection of Libya centred on Col Gaddafi's backing for a number of militant groups, including the Irish Republican Army and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

GADDAFI TIMELINE

1942: Muammar Gaddafi born near Sirte, Libya
1969: Seizes power from King Idris in bloodless coup
1973: Declares "cultural revolution", with formation of "people's committees"
1977: Declares "people's revolution", creating the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah
1986: US soldiers targeted in Berlin disco attack, three killed; US bombs Tripoli and Benghazi, killing dozens
1988: 270 people killed in bombing of Pan Am jet over Lockerbie
1992: UN imposes sanctions to pressure Libya into handing over Lockerbie bombing suspects
1999: Lockerbie suspects handed over; UN sanctions suspended
2003: Libya takes responsibility for Lockerbie, renounces weapons of mass destruction
2008: Libya and US sign compensation deal for bombings by both sides

US president Ronald Reagan labelled Libya's leader a "mad dog", and the US responded to Libya's alleged involvement in attacks in Europe with airstrikes on Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986.

Col Gaddafi was said to be badly shaken by the bombings, in which his adopted daughter was killed.

Spurned in his efforts to unite the Arab world, from the 1990s Col Gaddafi turned his gaze towards Africa, proposing a "United States" for the continent.

He adopted his dress accordingly, sporting clothes that carried emblems of the African continent or portraits of African leaders.

At the turn of the millennium, with Libya struggling under sanctions, he began to bring his country in from the cold.

In 2003 the turnaround was secured, and five years later Libya reached a final compensation agreement over Lockerbie and other bombings, allowing normal ties with Washington to be restored.

"There will be no more wars, raids, or acts of terrorism," Col Gaddafi said as he celebrated 39 years in power.

Domestic challenges

At home, the Libyan leader presents himself as the spiritual guide of the nation, overseeing what he says is a version of direct democracy.

In practice, critics say, Col Gadaffi has retained absolute, authoritarian control.

Dissent has been ruthlessly crushed and the media remains under strict government control.


Gaddafi's regime is accused of serious human rights abuses

Libya has a law forbidding group activity based on a political ideology opposed to Col Gaddafi's revolution.

The regime has imprisoned hundreds of people for violating the law and sentenced some to death, Human Rights Watch says.

Torture and disappearances have also been reported.

But aware of his age, Col Gadaffi is now thought to be preparing the ground for a transition.

It is far from clear who might succeed him.

Speculation has focussed on one of his sons, Sayf al-Islam Gaddafi, a leading proponent of reform.

Sayf has announced that he is retiring from politics, but opinion is divided about whether this is a tactical move aimed at expanding his popular support.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi senior has promised that most of the country's ministries will be abolished, and their budgets - Libya's considerable oil windfall - will be handed straight to the population.

But though Libya's economy has been opened up to foreign investment, reform is slow.

Many Libyans are confused as to how things are changing and feel they are not benefiting from Libya's wealth, observers say, with public services poor and corruption rife.

"They are very cautious in terms of effecting change in case that would undermine their power," said Saad Djebbar.

"But at the same time they are aware that they should do something. That's why they are very, very slow."



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