Libya
Country in N Africa, bounded N by the Mediterranean Sea, E by Egypt,
SE by Sudan, S by Chad and Niger, and W by Algeria and Tunisia.
Government
The 1977 constitution created an Islamic socialist state, and the government
is designed to allow the greatest possible popular involvement, through
a large congress and smaller secretariats and committees. There is a
General People's Congress (GPC) of 1,112 members that elects a secretary
general who is intended to be head of state. The GPC is serviced by
a general secretariat, which is Libya's nearest equivalent to a legislature.
The executive organ of the state is the General People's Committee,
which replaces the structure of ministries that operated before the
1969 revolution. The Arab Socialist Union (ASU) is the only political
party, and, despite Libya's elaborately democratic structure, ultimate
power rests with the party and its leader.
History
The development of oil reserves during the 1960s transformed the Libyan
economy. The country enjoyed internal and external stability until a
bloodless revolution 1969, led by young nationalist officers, deposed
the king and proclaimed a Libyan Arab Republic. Power was vested in
a Revolution Command Council (RCC), chaired by Col Moamer al-Khaddhafi,
with the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) as the only political party. Khaddhafi
soon began proposing schemes for Arab unity, none of which was permanently
adopted. In 1972 he planned a federation of Libya, Syria, and Egypt
and later that year a merger between Libya and Egypt. In 1980 he proposed
a union with Syria and in 1981 with Chad.
Conflict with the West
Khaddhafi's attempts to establish himself as a leader of the Arab world
brought him into conflict with Western powers, particularly the USA.
The Reagan administration objected to Libya's presence in Chad and its
attempts to unseat the French- US-sponsored government of President
Habré. The USA linked Khaddhafi to worldwide terrorist activities, despite
his denials of complicity, and the killing of a US soldier in a bomb
attack in Berlin 1986 by an unidentified guerrilla group prompted a
raid by US aircraft, some of them British-based, on Tripoli and Benghazi.
Libyan terrorists were also blamed for the bombing of Pan American World
Airways Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, which killed 270
people; and for the 1989 bombing of UTA (Union de Transports Aerians)
Flight 772 over Niger.
International Sanctions
In 1988 Khaddhafi embarked on a dramatic programme of liberalization,
freeing political prisoners and encouraging private businesses to operate,
and in the same year offered to recognize Chad's independence and to
give material help in the reconstruction of the country. In Jan 1989
he did not retaliate when two fighter jets were shot down over the Mediterranean
off Libya by the US Navy and appeared to be moving towards improving
external relations, effecting a reconciliation with Egypt Oct 1989.
However in April 1992 international sanctions were imposed against Libya
after Khaddhafi repeatedly refused to extradite six suspects linked
to the Lockerbie and UTA bombings. Foreign air links were severed and
Libyan diplomatic staff in several countries were expelled. A US request
for tougher sanctions was rejected by the United Nations April 1995.
From 1995 Khadhaffi was faced with a deteriorating economy, rising
unemployment, and civil unrest in the form of an antigovernment campaign
of violence by Islamic fundamentalists. In response, he announced plans
to expel up to 1 million foreign workers from Libya.
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