I.

Introduction

Libya, in full, Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah, nation of northern Africa, comprising the former Italian colonies of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan. It is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the east by Egypt, to the south-east by Sudan, to the south by Chad and Niger, to the west by Algeria, and to the north-west by Tunisia. The area of Libya, one of the largest countries in Africa, is 1,759,540 sq km (679,362 sq mi). The capital city is Tripoli.

II.

Land and Resources

About 95 per cent of Libya is made up of barren, rock-strewn plains and sand seas, with two small areas of hills rising to about 915 m (3,000 ft) in the north-west and north-east. In the south the land rises to the Tibesti along the Chad border.

A.

Climate

Climatic conditions in Libya are characterized by extreme heat and aridity. Desert and sub-desert regions have hardly any precipitation. On the coast the annual rainfall total rarely exceeds 380 mm (15 in).

B.

Natural Resources

The principal resource of Libya is petroleum. Natural gas, gypsum, limestone, marine salt, potash, and natron are also exploited.

C.

Plants and Animals

Most of Libya is either devoid of vegetation or supports only sparse growth. Date palms and olive and orange trees grow in the scattered oases, and junipers and mastic trees are found in the higher elevations. Wildlife includes desert rodents, hyena, gazelle, and wildcats. Eagles, hawks, and vultures are common.

D.

Environmental Concerns

Libya is extremely arid, and fresh water resources are scarce. Only 1 per cent (1997) of the country's land is arable, and only 0.27 per cent (1997) of its land is irrigated. There are no permanent rivers or streams in Libya, though the country has built a network of dams that store run-off from its infrequent rains, and wells have been drilled in many settlements to tap subterranean aquifers. Libya has undertaken a number of major irrigation projects intended to ease the water shortage, including the so-called Great Man-Made River (GMMR), a vast water pipeline that it is estimated will cost more than US$25 billion upon completion. The first of five planned phases in the construction of the GMMR was completed in 1996. The project will eventually tap the aquifers of the Sarir, Sabha, and Al Kufrah oases and transport fresh water to Libyan cities and agricultural areas along the Mediterranean coast. Although the project's planners predict that the GMMR could supply Libya with 5 million cubic m (177 million cubic ft) of water per day when completed, the pipeline will draw from finite reserves, and it is unclear how long the water supplies can be exploited.

Libya has pursued an extensive reforestation programme in recent decades. Since the 1960s, the government has planted more than 200 million seedlings in western Libya in an effort to prevent further soil erosion and desertification. Millions of land mines were buried in Libya during desert fighting in World War II. Many of the mines are still active, threatening the country's human and animal populations. Libya has ratified the London Dumping Convention and the Mediterranean Action Plan, although untreated sewage and waste from the country's extensive petroleum industries continue to pollute the Mediterranean Sea and coastal areas. Libya has also ratified international agreements that limit marine dumping and nuclear testing, and the country has signed treaties intended to protect biodiversity and the ozone layer. Libya is party to the World Heritage Convention.

III.

Population

The indigenous population of Libya is almost entirely Berber and Arab in origin. About 87 per cent of the people live in urban areas, although some Libyans still live in nomadic or semi-nomadic groups. After the Qaddafi revolution European settlers and Jews were expelled. Around 20 per cent of the population are from Egypt, Sudan, and Chad.

A.

Population Characteristics

Libya has a population of 6,036,914 (2007 estimate). The overall population density is only about 3 people per sq km (9 per sq mi). The population, however, is unevenly distributed; more than two thirds live in the more densely settled coastal areas. In 2007 life expectancy was 75 years for men and 79 years for women. The population growth rate in 2007 was 2.26 per cent.

B.

Principal Cities

The ports of Tripoli, population 1,149,957 (2003), and Banghāzī, 636,992 (2003), are the two largest urban areas.

C.

Religion

Islam is the state religion, and about 97 per cent of all Libyans are Sunni Muslims. There is a small number of Roman Catholics.

D.

Language

The official language is Standard Arabic, although this is not a mother tongue as it is learnt only in schools and places of worship and used for official purposes. Libyan Spoken Arabic is used by 96 per cent of the inhabitants and five different languages (including Nafusi and Tahaggart Tamahaq) from the Berber language family are spoken in certain areas.

E.

Education

Primary education in Libya is free and compulsory. About 84 per cent of the adult population is literate. In 1992 some 1.23 million pupils were enrolled in primary schools, and about 138,800 students attended secondary schools. Libya’s five universities together were attended by almost 72,900 students. In 1992 almost 10 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP) was spent on education.

The Government Library and National Archives are located in Tripoli, and the country’s largest library, containing more than 300,000 volumes, is affiliated with the University of Garyounis (1955) in Banghāzī. Other major universities include Al-Fateh University (1957) in Tripoli; University of Moragab (1987), and Sebha University (1983). Among the leading museums, which contain mainly antiquities excavated from various ruins, are the Lepcis Magna Museum at al-Khums, and the archaeological, natural history, epigraphy, prehistory, and ethnography museums at Tripoli.

IV.

Economy

Libya was traditionally an agricultural country, although farming was restricted primarily to the coastal regions. Livestock husbandry was also important. The discovery of petroleum in the late 1950s effected a profound change in the economy: the gross domestic product (GDP) increased from US$1,500 million in 1965 to US$25,400 million in 1985; it was US$32,900 million by 1994. Between 1965 and 1980 the economy grew at an annual average of 4.2 per cent; but then declined by 4 per cent annually throughout the 1980s. Libya’s socialist-oriented economy depends primarily upon oil revenues, which contribute practically all export earnings and about 25 per cent of GDP. This has fluctuated sharply in response to changes in the world oil market. Import restrictions and inefficient resource allocations have led to periodic shortages of basic goods and foodstuffs.

Manufacturing and construction, which account for about 20 per cent of GDP, have expanded from the processing of mostly agricultural products to include the production of petrochemicals, iron, steel, and aluminium. Climatic conditions and poor soils severely limit agricultural output, and Libya imports about 75 per cent of its food requirements.

In 1989 Libya had a GNP of US$23,300 million (World Bank figure; 1987-1989 prices), or US$5,310 per capita. The estimated annual budget in 1989 included current revenue of US$8,100 million and current and capital outlays of US$3,100 million.

A.

Agriculture and Fishing

Most of the arable land and pasture of Libya is in Tripolitania. Cultivation in the eastern and southern regions is sporadic and dependent on rainfall. About 11 per cent of the working population is engaged in agriculture, but the output amounts to only about 5 per cent of Libya’s yearly national product. Principal crops with annual production in tonnes in 2005 included wheat (125,000), barley (10,000), and potatoes (195,000). Livestock included 25 million poultry, 4.50 million sheep, 1,265,000 goats, 47,000 camels, and 130,000 cattle. The first part of the Great Man-Made River project, a massive 25-year irrigation scheme costing in excess of US$25 billion, was opened in 1996 and is now in operation.

Small quantities of tuna and sardines are caught in the coastal waters off Libya, and sponges are collected from inshore waters. In 2004 the total catch was approximately 46,073 tonnes of marine fish.

B.

Mining

Petroleum is the principal product of Libya and its main source of revenue. Production of crude petroleum in 2004 was about 519 million barrels; the natural gas output in 2003 amounted to 7 billion cu m (247 billion cu ft). Other minerals produced in significant quantities in Libya include marine salt and potash.

C.

Manufacturing

Major manufactures of Libya include petroleum refinery products (13 million tonnes in 1994), and construction materials; most consumer goods must be imported. Traditional handicrafts are of minor economic importance.

D.

Energy

Almost all Libya’s electricity is produced in thermal facilities, which are concentrated in the Tripolitania region. In 2003 Libyan installations generated about 14.4 billion kWh of electricity.

E.

Currency and Banking

The monetary unit of Libya is the Libyan dinar of 1,000 dirhams (1.34 dinar equalled US$1; early 2007). The bank of issue is the Central Bank of Libya (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; 1955), which also supervises the banking system and regulates credit. In 1972 the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank was established to deal with overseas investments.

F.

Commerce and Trade

Petroleum accounts for almost the whole of Libyan export trade; as oil prices declined, exports dropped from US$21,900 million in 1980 to US$13,018 million in 2000. Imports in 2000 totalled US$4,708 million, represented chiefly by manufactured goods and food. Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom are Libya’s principal trading partners.

G.

Transport

Good roads along the coast connect Tripoli with Tunis, and, through Banghāzī and Tobruk, with Alexandria; another road connects Sabha in the deep interior with the coastal roadway. In all, Libya has about 83,200 km (51,698 mi) of roads, of which 57 per cent are paved. In 1997 there were 159 passenger cars per 1,000 people. Plans are underway to construct a 2,300-km (1,435-mi) standard gauge line from the Tunisian frontier to Tripoli and Mişrātah, then inland to Sabha, which is in a mineral-rich area. Because of UN sanctions on international flights, Tunisia was the main transit point for air passengers from 1992 to 1999. Libyan Arab Airlines is the national carrier. Afriqiyah Airways, an enterprise between the Libyan government and an Italian airline, was launched in 2002. In addition to port facilities at Tripoli, Banghāzī, and Tobruk, a new port was opened in Mişrātah in 1978.

H.

Communications

The postal and modern telecommunications systems of Libya are government owned and operated. Radio communications link the interior with the coastal regions. In 1997 it was estimated that about 1 million radios and 770,000 television sets were in use. Libya’s main daily newspaper is Al-Fajr al-Jadid, which is published, and has its main circulation, in Tripoli.

V.

Government

A.

Executive and Legislature

Libya is governed under a constitution adopted in 1977 by the General People’s Congress (GPC), the national legislature established in 1976. Power is delegated to the head of state, or revolutionary leader; the five members of the General Secretariat of the GPC; and the 16 members of the General People’s Committee.

B.

Political Parties

The Arab Socialist Union (ASU) is the only official political party in Libya; it has 112 members in the GPC. There are a number of dissident groups, including the Libyan Democratic Movement, which tend to be active in neighbouring countries.

C.

Judiciary

Civil, criminal, and commercial justice in Libya follows the Egyptian model. In 1979 judicial power in Libya came under the authority of the People’s Committee for Justice. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and several associate judges. Courts of first instance, summary courts, and Courts of Appeal also function.

D.

Local Government

Libya, previously divided into governorates, was reorganized in 1977 into 46 municipal and 186 basic people’s congress administrative units.

E.

Health and Welfare

In 2004 there were 775 people per doctor and in 2007 the country had an infant mortality rate of 23 deaths per 1,000 live births.

F.

Defence

In 2004 Libya maintained an army of 45,000 personnel; a navy of 8,000; and an air force of 23,000. A People’s Militia numbers some 40,000 personnel.

G.

International Organizations

Libya is a member of the United Nations (UN), the African Union, the Arab League, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

VI.

History

Phoenicia founded colonies on the coast of Tripolitania, which were conquered by Carthage in the 6th century bc. Greeks subsequently established settlements in Cyrenaica. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century bc, described the Garamantes people of the Fezzan, who were sedentary farmers and used horse-drawn chariots in warfare. His account has been verified in the 20th century by ancient cave art, discovered in the Jabal Akakus of the western Fezzan and the Jabal al-Uwaynat near the Egyptian border. Libya later became a Roman possession, until it was conquered by the Vandals in ad 455. After a reconquest by the Byzantine Empire in the following century, the region was won by the Arabs under Amr ibn al-As in 643.

Ruled successively by the Umayyads, Fatimids, and a Berber dynasty, the historic regions of Tripoli and Cyrenaica were partly conquered by the Normans in 1146 but soon abandoned to Almohad control. During the following centuries Libya, or parts thereof, frequently changed hands until it was finally conquered in the 16th century by the Ottoman Empire.

In the 19th century the puritanical Sanusi sect arose in the interior. The Sanusi led the resistance to the Italians, who began their conquest of Libya in 1911. Turkey renounced its rights over Libya in 1912, but the Sanusi resisted Italian invasion until 1931.

During World War II, Libya was the scene of intense desert fighting between Italo-German and Allied forces. Following the expulsion of Axis troops in 1943, France and Britain shared control of the country. On November 21, 1949, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution calling for the granting of independence to Libya by January 1, 1952.

A.

Post-War Kingdom Established

A national assembly, composed of an equal number of delegates from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan, convened at Tripoli in 1950 and designated Emir Sayid Idris el-Sanusi, head of the Cyrenaican government and leader of the Sanusi sect, as King-Designate. The assembly promulgated the Libyan constitution on October 7, 1951. On December 24 the emir, as King Idris I, proclaimed the independence of the federal United Kingdom of Libya. Elections were held in February 1952, and parliament met for the first time in March. Libya joined the Arab League in 1953 and the UN in 1955. In 1963 the constitution was amended to give women the right to vote, and the federal system was replaced by a unitary system.

Britain and France agreed to extend financial aid to the government in exchange for the right to maintain their military installations in Libya. The United States, wishing to retain the vast Wheelus Field air base near Tripoli, promised economic and technical assistance. Libya established diplomatic relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1956 but rejected Soviet offers of economic aid. In 1964 negotiations were begun between Libya and the United States and Britain for the withdrawal of troops and the closing of air bases. The last contingents of British and US troops left in 1970.

Libya was not a participant in the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel, but it strongly supported its Arab League neighbours in opposition to Israel after the war and gave financial aid to Jordan and the United Arab Republic, as Egypt was then called, to rebuild their economies.

B.

Oil Wealth

Beginning in the mid-1950s, development of the oil industry made rapid progress and turned Libya into a boom country. In 1956 the Libyan government granted two American oil companies a concession of some 5.668 million hectares (14 million acres). In 1961 King Idris opened a 167-km (104-mi) pipeline linking important oilfields in the interior to the Mediterranean Sea. The new facility made possible the export of Libyan oil for the first time. In the same year a royal decree provided that in future agreements with oil companies the government share of the profits would be increased from 50 per cent to 70 per cent. In the late 1960s numerous oil companies of various nations had been granted concessions, and oil production reached more than 85 million barrels per month.

C.

Overthrow of the Monarchy

A new era in the history of Libya began on September 1, 1969, when a group of young army officers overthrew the royal government and established a republic under the name Libyan Arab Republic.

The revolutionary government, dominated by Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, showed a determination thereafter to play a larger role in the affairs of the Middle East and North Africa. Representatives of Libya engaged in discussions with Egypt and the Sudan on plans for the coordination of economic, military, and political policies of the three countries. In September 1971 Egypt, Libya, and Syria agreed to form a federation designed for mutual military advantage against Israel. This and a later agreement to form a union with Tunisia were abandoned in 1974.

D.

Nationalization and the Oil Embargo

In internal affairs the Qaddafi regime decreed that all businesses must in the future be wholly owned by Libyans; all banks were nationalized. Agreement was reached with foreign-owned oil companies that increased Libya’s annual oil revenues by US$770 million at that time. In the early 1970s, however, Libya also nationalized the oil resources of the country. Even before the Yom Kippur War between the Arabs and Israelis in 1973, Qaddafi urged his fellow Arabs to refuse to trade in oil—so vital to the industrialized countries of the West—with any nation supporting Israel. After the war Libya joined in an embargo of oil sales to the West and urged higher prices to the oil-consuming countries.

E.

Qaddafi’s Regime

Under Qaddafi’s leadership Libya took a much more active role not only in Arab affairs but also in international politics. Opposing the peace initiative towards Israel of the Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, Libya took a leading part, along with Syria, in the so-called rejectionist front in 1978. Its support for the Palestine Liberation Organization later expanded to barely concealed subsidies for terrorists in other nations, and in the early 1980s the regime was believed to be linked to a campaign of assassinations directed against Libyan dissidents residing abroad.

During this same period, Libyan forces intervened in a civil war in neighbouring Chad. A peace treaty with Chad was signed in 1989. The International Court of Justice ruled in February 1994 that the Aozou Strip between Chad and Libya belonged to Chad and that Libya would have had to withdraw from it by May 1994. Some of its forces have been withdrawn, but Libya still maintains part of the airfield and a small military presence at the airfield’s water supply in Chad.

E.1.

US Bombing of Libya

Libyan relations with the United States deteriorated in the early 1980s. In 1981 two Libyan fighter planes were shot down by US Navy jets over the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claimed as territorial waters. In 1982 the United States imposed an embargo on Libyan oil imports. Another encounter in the Gulf of Sidra in March 1986 resulted in the destruction of two Libyan ships by US Navy ships.

In April, responding to heightened terrorism in Europe apparently directed by Libya against Americans, the United States bombed sites in Libya declared by President Ronald Reagan to be “terrorist centres”. Qaddafi’s home at one of the barracks was damaged and his infant daughter was killed, but the major damage was to other military sites.

During the 1991 Gulf War, Libya urged moderation, opposing both Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent use of force against Iraq. Ties with Egypt were strengthened during 1991, but those with the United States worsened, especially in 1992 when it was charged that Libya was manufacturing chemical weapons.

E.2.

Sanctions Imposed

In April 1992 UN sanctions were imposed against Libya for its refusal to extradite the two men suspected of the bombing on December 21, 1988, of Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people died. The United States and Britain had accused two Libyans, Lameen Fhaima and Abdel-Basit Al-Megarhi, of masterminding the bombing of Flight 103 and demanded that they be tried either in the United States or Scotland. The Libyan government stated that they should only be tried by Scottish judges in an international court.

The sanctions were renewed in 1993, 1994, and 1995 in the face of continuing Libyan defiance. In April 1995 a Libyan airliner, with official backing, broke UN sanctions and flew 150 pilgrims to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage; a compromise was arranged permitting pilgrims to fly on Egyptian airliners.

In November 1995 a Libyan dissident was killed in London, claimed by opponents of Qaddafi to be a political assassination. In December the Libyan regime made an apparent offer to enter discussions with the British government over Libya’s periodic supply of weapons to the IRA.

E.3.

Sanctions Reinforced

In 1996 the UN Security Council again renewed sanctions against Libya. In addition, the United States extended economic sanctions following allegations that Libyan chemical warfare installations were under construction south-east of Tripoli. The same year, hundreds of businessmen were arrested, accused by Qaddafi of corruption and trading in foreign goods. In October, during a visit by the Turkish prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, Qaddafi criticized Turkey for its treatment of its Kurdish community and for allowing the United States to maintain air bases in Turkey.

The following year six military officers and two civilians were executed, most likely in retaliation for an attempted coup against Qaddafi in October 1993. In September 1997 Arab foreign ministers agreed to break the UN sanctions by allowing planes carrying Qaddafi to land on their territory and by permitting flights for pilgrims and humanitarian missions. The General People's Congress appointed Mohammed Ahmed al-Mangoush as Secretary of the General People's Committee in December 1997; the post equates approximately with that of prime minister.

F.

Suspension of Sanctions

The air embargo on Libya was defied once more in July 1998 when two aircraft, carrying the President of Niger and the President of Chad, landed in Tripoli in violation of UN sanctions. However a flight carrying President Mubarak of Egypt had obtained UN permission on humanitarian grounds, as it also carried five doctors, who were to treat Colonel Qaddafi.

Libya’s continued refusal to hand over the two men accused of the Lockerbie bombing had isolated the country politically and economically during the late 1990s, despite some efforts to improve the country’s international pariah status, including the release of political prisoners. In 1998 the International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled that it had jurisdiction over the dispute. In April 1999, the two Libyans finally surrendered to UN officials. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah were flown from Tripoli to the Netherlands where they were charged by Scottish authorities at Camp Zeist, near Utrecht, in a former military base. The base had been designated Scottish soil to enable the trial to be conducted under the jurisdiction of Scottish law. The surrender of the two men was the culmination of over ten years of discussion and diplomatic negotiation, and led to the suspension of UN sanctions that had been imposed on Libya in 1992.

Full diplomatic relations between Libya and the United Kingdom, which had been severed since the shooting of Yvonne Fletcher, a young British police officer, outside the Libyan Embassy in London in 1984, were finally re-established in July 1999, after Libyan authorities agreed to compensate her family.

The Libyan government underwent fundamental changes in March 2000, in a bid to bring it closer to the people. Decentralization affected most of the ministries, known as people's committees, which were abolished and their authority devolved to provincial bodies. Some central ministries, including those of foreign affairs, finances, information, justice, and security, remained in place, and a new body, a Ministry for African Unity, was formed.

In January 2001, Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi was found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing after an 84-day trial; the following year he lost his appeal against the conviction. His co-accused, Al-amin Fhimah, was acquitted. Talks were held in February to discuss the permanent lifting of UN sanctions; the UK and US both maintained that a major pre-condition should be compensation paid by Libya to the families of the Lockerbie victims.

Libyan troops were sent into Central African Republic to help quash the coup attempt there against the president, Ange-Felix Patassé in May 2001. The following September the two countries signed a 99-year economic deal that gives Libya rights to prospect for gold, oil, and diamonds on the lands of its mineral-rich near-neighbour.

F.1.

Towards Reform

Diplomatically, Libya was gradually leaving the isolation imposed upon it since the early 1990s, and representations from foreign ministries continued, along with a visit from Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. In 2003 Libya was elected to chair the United Nations Human Rights Commission, something of a coup for a country still tarred in many quarters with being a major violator of human rights. The announcement in December 2003 that Libya would abandon its efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction and cooperate with international weapons monitors enhanced the country’s prospects of ending its alienation from the West, reopening the access to investment and technology that sanctions had closed. In early 2004 Libya agreed to provide compensation to families for the deaths of French passengers onboard an aircraft that was bombed in 1989. British prime minister Tony Blair paid a visit to the country in March to hold a meeting with Qaddafi and in November French president Jacques Chirac made a visit. After three years as prime minister, Shukri Ghanem was dismissed for overstepping the pace of free market reforms. He was replaced by Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi, a former health minister.