Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi1 (
; also known simply as
Colonel Gaddafi; born 1942) has been the
de factoDe facto is a Latin expression that means "by [the] fact". In law, it is meant to mean "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but without being officially established"...
leader of
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
since a coup in 1969.
From 1972, when Gaddafi relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics "Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab
JamahiriyaJamahiriya is an Arabic term generally translated as "state of the masses." The term, a neologism coined by Muammar al-Gaddafi, is intended to be a generic term describing a type of state, like a "republic ruled by the masses" .In practice, the only state to which the term has ever been applied...
" or "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution" in government statements and the official press. With the death of
Omar BongoEl Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba , born as Albert-Bernard Bongo, was a Gabonese politician who was President of Gabon for 42 years from 1967 until his death in office in 2009...
of
GabonGabon is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with the Gulf of Guinea to the west, Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, and Cameroon to the north, with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. Its size is almost 270,000 km² with an estimated population...
on 8 June 2009, he became the third longest serving of all current national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Ali Pasha
Al KaramanliThe Karamanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli dynasty was a series of Pashas who ruled from 1711 to 1835 in Tripolitania . At their peak, the Karamanlis' influence reached Cyrenaica and Fezzan covering most of Libya. The founder of the dynasty was Pasha Ahmed Karamanli...
, who ruled between 1754 and 1795.
Early life
Gaddafi was the youngest born into a peasant family. Officially his father was Mohammed Abdul Salam bin Hamed bin Mohammed Al-Gaddafi, known as Abu Meniar (died 1985). It has however been reported in
The Times that there is a possibility his biological father was a French officer. His mother is Aisha Bin Niran. Little is known about Gaddafi's childhood. He has said that when he was five years old he had a brother that was killed by an Israeli soldier. However, the claim has been disputed as the
IDFThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
was not created until May 26, 1948, when Gaddafi was six. At a young age he was known to his friends as 'al-jamil' or 'the handsome'. He grew up in the desert region of
SirteSurt is one of the districts of Libya, which lies in the north of the country and borders the Gulf of Sidra. Its capital is the city of Surt. Al-Tahadi University is located in Surt....
. He was given a traditional religious primary education and attended the Sebha preparatory school in
FezzanFezzan is a south-western region of modern Libya. It is largely desert but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise inhospitable Sahara.- Administrative division :Fezzan was formerly a province...
from 1956 to 1961. Gaddafi and a small group of friends that he met in this school went on to form the core leadership of a militant revolutionary group that would eventually seize control of the country. Gaddafi's inspiration was
Gamal Abdel NasserGamal Abdel Nasser was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death in 1970. He led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which removed King Farouk I and heralded a new period of industrialization in Egypt, together with a profound advancement of Arab nationalism, including a short-lived...
, president of neighboring
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
, who rose to the presidency by appealing to
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
unity. In 1961, Gaddafi was expelled from Sebha for his political activism.
Gaddafi entered the military academy in
BenghaziBenghazi or Bengasi is the second largest city in Libya and the main city of the Cyrenaica region . It is also a district of Libya of the wider city area...
in 1963, where he and a few of his fellow militants organized a secretive group dedicated to overthrowing the pro-
WesternThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
Libyan monarchy. After graduating in 1965, he was sent to
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
for further training at the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
Staff CollegeStaff colleges train military officers in the administrative, staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career...
, now the
Joint Services Command and Staff CollegeJoint Services Command and Staff College is a British military academic establishment providing training and education to experienced officers of the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, Ministry of Defence Civil Service, and serving officers of other states.JSCSC combined the single service...
, returning in 1966 as a commissioned officer in the
Signal CorpsThe Signal Corps is a military branch, usually subordinate to a country's army, responsible for the military communications .Many countries have a Signal Corps, whose main function is usually communication .* Signal Corps , founded in 1860 by Major Albert J...
.
Military coup d'état
On 1 September 1969, a small group of military officers led by Gaddafi staged a bloodless
coup d'étatA coup d'état , or coup for short, is the sudden unconstitutional deposition of a legitimate government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another, either civil or military...
against
King Idris IIdris, GBE born Sayyid Muhammad Idris bin Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Senussi was the only King of Libya, reigning from 1951 to 1969 and the Chief of the Senussi Muslim order.-Early life:...
, while he was in
Kamena VourlaKamena Vourla is a municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. Population 5,064 . It is crossed by the main highway connecting Athens and Thessaloniki.Closest modern town to the site of the battle of Thermopylae...
, a
GreekGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
resort, for medical treatment. His nephew the Crown Prince Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Sanussi had been formally deposed by the revolutionary army officers and put under house arrest; they abolished the monarchy and proclaimed the new Libyan Arab Republic. The slim 27-year-old Gaddafi, with a taste for safari suits and sunglasses, then sought to become the new "
Che GuevaraErnesto "Che" Guevara commonly known as Che Guevara, El Che, or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, military theorist, and major figure of the Cuban Revolution...
of the age". To accomplish this Gaddafi turned Libya into a haven for anti-Western radicals, where any group, supposedly, could receive weapons and financial assistance, provided they claimed to be fighting
imperialismImperialism, as defined by the dictionary of human geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Imperialism, in many ways, is described...
. The Italian population in Libya almost disappeared after Gaddafi ordered the expulsion of Italians in 1970.
A Revolutionary Command Council was formed to rule the country, with Gaddafi as chairman. He added the title of prime minister in 1970, but gave up this title in 1972. Unlike some other military revolutionaries, Gaddafi did not promote himself to the rank of
generalA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
upon seizing power, but rather accepted a ceremonial promotion from captain to
colonelColonel is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
and has remained at this rank since then. While at odds with Western military ranking for a colonel to rule a country and serve as
Commander-in-ChiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the...
of its military, in Gaddafi's own words Libya's society is "ruled by the people", so he needs no more grandiose title or supreme military rank.
Islamic Socialism and pan-Arabism
Gaddafi based his new regime on a blend of
Arab nationalismArab nationalism is a nationalist ideology which rose to prominence amongst Arabs from the early 20th century onwards. Its central premise is that the peoples and countries of the Arab World, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea, constitute one nation and are bound together by their common...
, aspects of the
welfare stateThere are two main interpretations of the idea of a welfare state:* A model in which the state assumes primary responsibility for the welfare of its citizens...
, and what Gaddafi termed "direct,
popularDo not mistake with Irish or Marxist-Leninist People's DemocracyPopular democracy is a notion of direct democracy based on referendums and other devices of empowerment and concretization of popular will...
democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
". He called this system "
Islamic socialismIslamic socialism is a term coined by various Muslim leaders to meet the demand for a more spiritual form of socialism. Muslim socialists believe that the teachings of the Qur'an and Muhammad are compatible with principles of equality and the redistribution of wealth...
", and, while he permitted private control over small companies, the government controlled the larger ones. Welfare, "liberation", and education were emphasized. He also imposed a system of Islamic morals, outlawing alcohol and gambling. Like previous revolutionary figures of the 20th century such as
Mao, is a Japanese remake of the Korean suspense drama series titled Ma Wang which aired on KBS 2TV in 2007. The drama stars Satoshi Ohno of Arashi and Toma Ikuta, both under the talent agency Johnny & Associates.- Synopsis :...
and his
Little Red Book, Gaddafi outlined
his political philosophyThe Third International Theory refers to the style of Government used in Libya, created by Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi in the early 1970s. It is partly inspired by Islamic socialism and Arab nationalism. The theory proposes an alternative to capitalism and communism for Third World countries, and is...
in his
Green BookThe Green Book is a book written by the Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, first published in 1975, outlining his views on democracy and his political philosophy.It consists of three parts:...
to reinforce the ideals of this socialist-Islamic state and published in three volumes between 1975 and 1979.
In 1977, Gaddafi proclaimed that Libya was changing its form of government from a republic to a "
jamahiriyaJamahiriya is an Arabic term generally translated as "state of the masses." The term, a neologism coined by Muammar al-Gaddafi, is intended to be a generic term describing a type of state, like a "republic ruled by the masses" .In practice, the only state to which the term has ever been applied...
"--a neologism that means "mass-state" or "government by the masses". In theory, Libya became a
direct democracyDirect democracy, classically termed pure democracy, comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate...
governed by the people through local popular councils and communes. At the top of this structure was the General People's Congress, with Gaddafi as secretary-general. However, after only two years, Gaddafi gave up all of his governmental posts in keeping with the new egalitarian philosophy.
In practice, Libya's political system is less idealistic. Real power is vested in a "revolutionary sector" composed of Gaddafi and a small group of trusted advisers. While he holds no formal office, it is generally understood that Gaddafi holds near-absolute control over the government.
From time to time, Gaddafi has responded to domestic and external opposition with violence. His revolutionary committees called for the
assassinationAn Assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure.Assassinations may be prompted by ideological, political, or military reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by financial gain, revenge, personal public recognition, or mental illness....
of Libyan dissidents living abroad in April 1980, with Libyan hit squads sent abroad to murder them. On 26 April 1980, Gaddafi set a deadline of 11 June 1980 for dissidents to return home or be "in the hands of the revolutionary committees". Nine Libyans were murdered during that time, five of them in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
.
External relations
With respect to Libya's neighbors, Gaddafi followed
Gamal Abdel NasserGamal Abdel Nasser was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death in 1970. He led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which removed King Farouk I and heralded a new period of industrialization in Egypt, together with a profound advancement of Arab nationalism, including a short-lived...
's ideas of
pan-ArabismPan-Arabism is a movement for unification among the peoples and countries of the Arab World, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism which asserts that the Arabs constitute a single nation. The idea was at its height during the 1960s...
and became a fervent advocate of the unity of all Arab states into one Arab nation. He also supported
pan-IslamismPan-Islamism is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic state — often a Caliphate. As a form of religious nationalism, Pan-Islamism differentiates itself from other pan-nationalistic ideologies, for example Pan-Arabism, by excluding culture and ethnicity as primary...
, the notion of a loose union of all Islamic countries and peoples. After Nasser's death on 28 September 1970, Gaddafi attempted to take up the mantle of ideological leader of Arab nationalism. He proclaimed the "Federation of Arab Republics" (Libya, Egypt, and
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
) in 1972, hoping to create a pan-Arab state, but the three countries disagreed on the specific terms of the merger. In 1974, he signed an agreement with
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
's
Habib BourguibaHabib Bourguiba was a Tunisian statesman and the Founder and First President of the Republic of Tunisia from July 25, 1957 to November 7, 1987. He is often compared to Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk because of the pro-Western reforms enacted during his presidency.During the time Bourguiba...
on a merger between the two countries, but this also failed to work in practice and ultimately differences between the two countries would deteriorate into strong animosity.
Libya was also involved in a sometimes violent territorial dispute with neighbouring
ChadChad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
over the Aouzou Strip, which Libya occupied in 1973. This dispute eventually led to the Libyan invasion of the country and to a conflict that was ended by a ceasefire reached in 1987. The dispute was in the end settled peacefully in June 1994 when Libya withdrew troops from
ChadChad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
due to a judgement of the
International Court of JusticeThe International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
issued on 13 February 1994.
Gaddafi also became a strong supporter of the
Palestine Liberation OrganizationThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United...
, which support ultimately harmed Libya's relations with Egypt, when in 1979 Egypt pursued a peace agreement with
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
. As Libya's relations with Egypt worsened, Gaddafi sought closer relations with the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. Libya became the first country outside the Soviet bloc to receive the supersonic MiG-25 combat fighters, but Soviet-Libyan relations remained relatively distant. Gaddafi also sought to increase Libyan influence, especially in states with an
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
ic population, by calling for the creation of a Saharan Islamic state and supporting anti-government forces in
sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
.
Notable in Gaddafi's politics has been his support for self-styled liberation movements, and also his sponsorship of rebel movements in
West AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:*Benin...
, notably
Sierra LeoneSierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea in the north, Liberia in the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has a population estimated at 6.4 million...
and
LiberiaLiberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2008 Census, the nation is home to 3,476,608 people and covers ....
, as well as Muslim groups. In the 1970s and the 1980s, this support was sometimes so freely given that even the most unsympathetic groups could obtain Libyan support; often the groups represented ideologies far removed from Gaddafi's own. Gaddafi's approach often tended to confuse international opinion. Throughout the 1970s, his regime was implicated in subversion and terrorist activities in both Arab and non-Arab countries. By the mid-1980s, he was widely regarded in the West as the principal financier of international terrorism. Reportedly, Gaddafi was a major financier of the "
Black SeptemberThe Black September Organization was a Palestinian militant group, founded in 1970. The group's name derives from the Black September conflict begun on 16 September 1970, when King Hussein of Jordan declared military rule in response to a fedayeen coup d’état to seize his kingdom — resulting in...
Movement" which perpetrated the
Munich massacreThe Munich massacre is an informal name for events occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually murdered by Black September, a militant group with ties to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization.By the end of...
at the
1972 Summer OlympicsThe 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, in what was then West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
, and was accused by the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
of being responsible for direct control of the
1986 Berlin discotheque bombingThe Berlin discotheque bombing of April 5, 1986 was a terrorist attack on the La Belle discotheque, West Berlin, Germany, that was frequented by U.S. soldiers. A bomb placed under a table near the DJ booth exploded at the club, killing a Turkish woman and two U.S. servicemen and injuring 230...
that killed three people and wounded more than 200, of whom a substantial number were U.S. servicemen. He is also said to have paid "
Carlos the JackalIlich Ramírez Sánchez is a Venezuelan revolutionary and convicted murderer. After several bungled bombings, he achieved notoriety for a 1975 raid on the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, resulting in the deaths of three people. For many years he was among the most wanted international fugitives...
" to kidnap and then release a number of
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south...
n and
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
ian oil ministers. Tensions between Libya and the West reached a peak during the
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
administration, which tried to overthrow Gaddafi. The Reagan administration viewed Libya as a belligerent rogue state because of its uncompromising stance on Palestinian independence, its support for revolutionary
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
in the 1980–1988 war against
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
(
see Iran–Iraq War), and its backing of "liberation movements" in the developing world. Reagan himself dubbed Gaddafi the "mad dog of the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
". In December 1981, the US State Department invalidated US passports for travel to Libya, and in March 1982, the U.S. declared a ban on the import of Libyan
oilPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds.The term "petroleum" was first used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in...
and the export to Libya of U.S. oil industry technology; European nations did not follow suit.
Libya has also been a supporter of the
Polisario FrontThe Polisario, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro is a Sahrawi rebel movement working for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco...
in their fight against
Spanish colonialismThe Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, from the 15th century through—in the case of its African holdings—the latter portion of the 20th century...
and Moroccan
military occupationBelligerent military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...
.
In 1984, British police constable
Yvonne FletcherWPC Yvonne Joyce Fletcher was a police officer who was shot and killed in London's St James's Square while on duty during a protest outside the Libyan embassy. Her death resulted in a police siege of the embassy, which lasted for eleven days. The shooting also caused the breakdown of diplomatic...
was shot outside the Libyan Embassy in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
while policing an anti-Gaddafi demonstration. A burst of machine-gun fire from within the building was suspected of killing her, but Libyan diplomats asserted their
diplomatic immunityDiplomatic immunity is a form of legal immunity and a policy held between governments, which ensures that diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not susceptible to lawsuit or prosecution under the host country's laws...
and were repatriated. The incident led to the breaking off of
diplomatic relationsDiplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war,...
between the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and Libya for over a decade.
The U.S. attacked Libyan patrol boats from January to March 1986 during clashes over access to the
Gulf of SidraGulf of Sidra is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Libya; it is also known as Gulf of Sirte. It is located by the city of Sirte...
, which Libya claimed as
territorial watersTerritorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles from the baseline of a coastal state...
. On 15 April 1986,
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
ordered major bombing raids, dubbed Operation El Dorado Canyon, against
TripoliTripoli is the largest and capital city of Libya.Tripoli has a population of 1.69 million...
and
BenghaziBenghazi or Bengasi is the second largest city in Libya and the main city of the Cyrenaica region . It is also a district of Libya of the wider city area...
killing 45 Libyan military and government personnel as well as 15 civilians. This strike followed U.S. interception of
telexTelex may refer to:* Telex, a communications network** Teleprinter, the device used on the above network* Telex , a Belgian pop group* Telex , a convention for writing Vietnamese using ASCII characters commonly found on computer keyboard layouts...
messages from Libya's
East BerlinEast Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a de facto part of West Germany. Despite its status as part of an occupied city,...
embassy suggesting Libyan government involvement in a bomb explosion on 5 April in
West BerlinWest Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors established in 1945. It was in many ways integrated with, although legally not a part of, West Germany...
's
La Belle discothèqueThe Berlin discotheque bombing of April 5, 1986 was a terrorist attack on the La Belle discotheque, West Berlin, Germany, that was frequented by U.S. soldiers. A bomb placed under a table near the DJ booth exploded at the club, killing a Turkish woman and two U.S. servicemen and injuring 230...
, a nightclub frequented by U.S. servicemen. Among the fatalities of the 15 April retaliatory attack by the U.S. was Gaddafi's adopted daughter, Hannah. Libya responded by firing two
ScudScud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War and exported widely to other countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name SS-1 Scud which was attached to the missile by Western intelligence agencies...
missiles at the
U.S. Coast GuardLORAN-C transmitter Lampedusa is the X-Ray secondary station of the Mediterranean Sea LORAN-C Chain .It uses a transmission power of 325 kW....
navigation station on the Italian island of
LampedusaThe Mediterranean island of Lampedusa belongs to Italy and is the largest of the Pelagie Islands, situated 205 km from Sicily and 113 km from Tunisia. Its population subsists on fishing, agriculture and tourism...
, in retaliation for the bombing. The missiles landed in the sea, and caused no damage.
In late 1987, a merchant vessel, the
MV Eksund, was intercepted. Destined for the
IRAThe Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which sought to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
, a large consignment of arms and explosives supplied by Libya was recovered from the
Eksund. British intelligence believed this was not the first and that Libyan arms shipments had previously reached the IRA. (See
Provisional IRA arms importationThe Provisional Irish Republican Army began importing large quantities of weapons and ammunition into Ireland for use in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s...
.)
For most of the 1990s, Libya endured
economic sanctionsEconomic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas...
and diplomatic isolation as a result of Gaddafi's refusal to allow the
extraditionExtradition is the official process whereby one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
or
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
of two Libyans accused of planting a bomb on
Pan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. On Wednesday 21 December 1988, the aircraft flying this route—a Boeing 747-121 named Clipper Maid of the Seas—was...
, which exploded over
LockerbieLockerbie is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately 75 miles from Glasgow, and from the English border. It is a small town, with a population of just 4,009 at the 2001 census....
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Through the intercession of
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
n President
Nelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, who held office from 1994–99. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto...
– who made a high-profile visit to Gaddafi in 1997 – and U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi AnnanKofi Atta Annan, Honorary GCMG is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.-Early years and family:Kofi Annan was born in the...
, Gaddafi agreed in 1999 to a compromise that involved handing over the defendants to the Netherlands for trial under Scottish law.: U.N. sanctions were thereupon suspended, but U.S. sanctions against Libya remained in force.
An alleged plot by Britain's secret intelligence service to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi, when rebels attacked Gaddafi's motorcade near the city of
SirteSirte may refer to:*Sirt, a city in Libya*Surt, a municipality of Libya*Gulf of Sidra, on Libya's coast*Sirte Basin, an oilfield beneath Surt province and the Gulf*Sirte Oil Company, a Libyan oil company...
in February 1996, was described as "pure fantasy" by former foreign secretary
Robin CookRobert Finlayson Cook was a British Labour politician, who was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 1997 to 2001....
, although the
FCOThe Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO, is the British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
later admitted: "We have never denied that we knew of plots against Gaddafi."
In August 2003, two years after Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi's conviction, Libya wrote to the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
formally accepting 'responsibility for the actions of its officials' in respect of the
Lockerbie bombingPan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. On Wednesday 21 December 1988, the aircraft flying this route—a Boeing 747-121 named Clipper Maid of the Seas—was...
and agreed to pay compensation of up to US$2.7 billion – or up to US$10 million each – to the families of the 270 victims. The same month, Britain and
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
co-sponsored a U.N. resolution which removed the suspended sanctions. (Bulgaria's involvement in tabling this motion led to suggestions that there was a link with the
HIV trial in LibyaThe HIV trial in Libya concerns the trials, appeals and eventual release of six foreign medical workers charged with conspiring to deliberately infect over 400 children with HIV in 1998, causing an epidemic at El-Fatih Children's Hospital in Benghazi.The defendants were a Palestinian medical...
in which 5 Bulgarian nurses, working at a
BenghaziBenghazi or Bengasi is the second largest city in Libya and the main city of the Cyrenaica region . It is also a district of Libya of the wider city area...
hospital, were accused of infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV.) Forty percent of the compensation was then paid to each family, and a further 40% followed once U.S. sanctions were removed. Because the U.S. refused to take Libya off its list of state sponsors of terrorism, Libya retained the last 20% ($540 million) of the $2.7 billion compensation package. In October 2008 Libya paid $1.5 billion into a fund which will be used to compensate relatives of the
- Lockerbie bombing victims with the remaining 20%;
- American victims of the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing
The Berlin discotheque bombing of April 5, 1986 was a terrorist attack on the La Belle discotheque, West Berlin, Germany, that was frequented by U.S. soldiers. A bomb placed under a table near the DJ booth exploded at the club, killing a Turkish woman and two U.S. servicemen and injuring 230...
;
- American victims of the 1989 UTA Flight 772
UTA Flight 772 of the French airline Union des Transports Aériens was a scheduled flight operating from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, via N'Djamena in Chad, to Paris CDG airport in France....
bombing; and,
- Libyan victims of the 1986 US bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi
The United States bombing of Libya comprised the joint United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986.-Origins:...
.
As a result,
President BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
signed an executive order restoring the Libyan government's immunity from terror-related lawsuits and dismissing all of the pending compensation cases in the US, the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the residence of every...
said.
On 28 June 2007, Megrahi was granted the right to a second appeal against the Lockerbie bombing conviction. One month later, the Bulgarian medics were released from jail in Libya. They returned home to Bulgaria and were pardoned by Bulgarian president,
Georgi ParvanovGeorgi Sedefchov Parvanov has been president of Bulgaria since 22 January 2002. Parvanov became president after defeating his predecessor, Petar Stoyanov, in the second round of the November 2001 presidential election...
.
Gaddafi's 2009 welcome to the return of convicted
Lockerbie bomberPan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. On Wednesday 21 December 1988, the aircraft flying this route—a Boeing 747-121 named Clipper Maid of the Seas—was...
Megrahi, who was released from prison on compassionate grounds, attracted criticism from Western leaders and has disrupted his first-ever visit to the United States to attend a
UN General SessionThe 2009 United Nations Security Council election was held on 15 October 2009 during the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at UN Headquarters in New York City...
. Gaddafi often resides in a tent when travelling , but plans to erect a tent in
Central ParkCentral Park is a large public, urban park that occupies over a square mile in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year...
and on Libyan government property in
Englewood, New JerseyEnglewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 26,203.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Englewood...
during Gaddafi's stay at the UN were both protested by community leaders and subsequently cancelled by Gaddafi. His tent finally found a home on an estate belonging to Donald Trump in Bedford.
September 23, 2009 marked Gaddafi's first appearance at the
United Nations General AssemblyFor two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:*General Assembly members*General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
where he addressed world leaders at the annual gathering in New York. The Libyan leader while demanding representation for the African Union, used the occasion to scold the United Nations structure saying the 15-member body practised “security feudalism” for those who had a protected seat. The Libyan leader's appearance at the United Nations generated demonstrations both for and against Gaddafi.
Openness
Gaddafi also appeared to be attempting to improve his image in the West. Two years prior to the
September 11, 2001 attacksThe September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners...
, Libya pledged its commitment to fighting
Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda , alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989 and early 1990...
and offered to open up its weapons programme to international inspection. The
ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
administration did not pursue the offer at the time since Libya's weapons program was not then regarded as a threat, and the matter of handing over the Lockerbie bombing suspects took priority. Following the attacks of 11 September, Gaddafi made one of the first, and firmest, denunciations of the Al-Qaeda bombers by any Muslim leader. Gaddafi also appeared on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
for an open interview with
George StephanopoulosGeorge Robert Stephanopoulos is an American broadcaster and former political adviser. He is currently ABC News's Chief Washington Correspondent and the host of ABC's Sunday morning news show This Week with George Stephanopoulos....
, a move that would have seemed unthinkable less than a decade earlier.
Following the overthrow of
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
by US forces in 2003, Gaddafi announced that his nation had an active
weapons of mass destructionThe term weapon of mass destruction is often used to describe a weapon that can kill large numbers of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general....
program, but was willing to allow international inspectors into his country to observe and dismantle them. US President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
and other supporters of the
Iraq WarThe Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.Prior to the war, the governments of the United...
portrayed Gaddafi's announcement as a direct consequence of the Iraq War by stating that Gaddafi acted out of fear for the future of his own regime if he continued to keep and conceal his weapons. Italian Premier
Silvio Berlusconiis an Italian politician, entrepreneur, real estate and insurance tycoon, bank and media proprietor, sports team owner and songwriter. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister of the Italian Republic , a position he has held on three separate occasions: from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2006 and...
, a supporter of the
Iraq WarThe Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.Prior to the war, the governments of the United...
, was quoted as saying that Gaddafi had privately phoned him, admitting as much. Many foreign policy experts, however, contend that Gaddafi's announcement was merely a continuation of his prior attempts at normalizing relations with the West and getting the sanctions removed. To support this, they point to the fact that Libya had already made similar offers starting four years prior to it finally being accepted. International inspectors turned up several tons of chemical weaponry in Libya, as well as an active
nuclear weaponA nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion...
s program. As the process of destroying these weapons continued, Libya improved its cooperation with international monitoring regimes to the extent that, by March 2006,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
was able to conclude an agreement with Libya to develop a significant
nuclear powerNuclear power is power produced from controlled nuclear reactions. Commercial plants in use to date use nuclear fission reactions....
program.
In March 2004,
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
became one of the first Western leaders in decades to visit Libya and publicly meet Gaddafi. Blair praised Gaddafi's recent acts, and stated that he hoped Libya could now be a strong ally in the international
War on TerrorismThe War on Terrorism is the common term for the military, political, legal and ideological conflict against what the effort's leaders describe as Islamic terrorism and Islamic militants, and was specifically used in reference to operations by the...
. In the run-up to Blair's visit, the British ambassador in Tripoli, Anthony Layden, explained Libya's and Gaddafi's political change thus:
- "35 years of total state control of the economy has left them in a situation where they're simply not generating enough economic activity to give employment to the young people who are streaming through their successful education system. I think this dilemma goes to the heart of Colonel Gaddafi's decision that he needed a radical change of direction."
On 15 May 2006, the US State Department announced that it would restore full diplomatic relations with Libya, once Gaddafi declared he was abandoning Libya's weapons of mass destruction program. The State Department also said that Libya would be removed from the list of nations supporting terrorism. On 31 August 2006, however, Gaddafi openly called upon his supporters to "kill enemies" who asked for political change.
In July 2007, French president
Nicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra...
visited Libya and signed a number of bilateral and multilateral (EU) agreements with Gaddafi.
On 4 March 2008 Gaddafi announced his intention to dissolve the country's existing administrative structure and disburse oil revenue directly to the people. The plan includes abolishing all ministries, except those of defence, internal security, and foreign affairs, and departments implementing strategic projects.
In September 2008,
US Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
Condoleezza RiceCondoleezza Rice is a professor, diplomat, author, and national security expert. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and the second to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
visited Libya and met with Gaddafi as part of a
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
n tour. This was the first visit to Libya by a US Secretary of State since 1953.
In January 2009, Gaddafi contributed an editorial to the
New York Times, suggesting that he was in favor of a single-state solution to the Israeli and Palestinian conflicts that moved beyond old conflicts and looked to a unified future of shared culture and mutual respect.
Cooperation with Italy
On 30 August 2008, Gaddafi and
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Italy is Italy's head of government...
Silvio Berlusconiis an Italian politician, entrepreneur, real estate and insurance tycoon, bank and media proprietor, sports team owner and songwriter. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister of the Italian Republic , a position he has held on three separate occasions: from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2006 and...
signed a historic
cooperationCooperation, co-operation, or coöperation is the process of working or acting together, which can be accomplished by both intentional and non-intentional agents...
treatyA treaty is an agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as: agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, exchange of letters, etc...
in
BenghaziBenghazi or Bengasi is the second largest city in Libya and the main city of the Cyrenaica region . It is also a district of Libya of the wider city area...
. Under its terms, Italy will pay $5 billion to Libya as compensation for its former
military occupationItalian Libya was a unified colony of Italian North Africa established in 1934 in what represents present-day Libya....
. In exchange, Libya will take measures to combat
illegal immigrationIllegal immigration is immigration across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country. Illegal immigrants are also known as illegal aliens to differentiate them from legal aliens...
coming from its shores and boost
investmentInvestment or investing is a term with several closely-related meanings in business management, finance and economics, related to saving or deferring consumption. Investing is the active redirection of resources: from being consumed today, to creating benefits in the future; the use of assets to...
s in Italian companies. The treaty was ratified by Italy in 6 February 2009, and by Libya on 2 March, during a visit to
TripoliTripoli is the largest and capital city of Libya.Tripoli has a population of 1.69 million...
by Berlusconi. In June Gaddafi made his first visit to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
, where he met Prime Minister Berlusconi,
PresidentThe President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
Giorgio NapolitanoGiorgio Napolitano is an Italian politician and former lifetime senator, the eleventh and current President of the Italian Republic...
and
Senate PresidentThe Italian Senate is the upper house of the Parliament of Italy. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but it existed during the monarchy as Senato del Regno, , continuing from the Subalpine Parliament of Piedmont established on 8 May 1848.The Senate consists of 315 elected...
Renato SchifaniRenato Maria Giuseppe Schifani is an Italian politician and a prominent member of the centre-right People of Freedom. Since 29 April 2008 he has been President of the Italian Senate. Schifani was born in Palermo.-Berlusconi's chief whip:...
;
Chamber PresidentThe Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a majority of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
Gianfranco FiniGianfranco Fini is an Italian politician, currently President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and member of the centre-right party People of Freedom. He was also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Berlusconi’s government of 2001 to 2006.- Family origins :His grandfather, a...
cancelled the meeting because of Gaddafi's delay. The
Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party is a centre-left political party in Italy.It was founded on 14 October 2007 as a merger of various left-wing and centrist parties which were part of the The Union in the 2006 general election...
and
Italy of ValuesItaly of Values is a centrist, populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy, headed by former Mani pulite magistrate Antonio Di Pietro. The party is a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party ....
opposed the visit, and many protests were staged throughout Italy by
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
organizationsNon-governmental organization is a term that has become widely accepted as referring to a legally constituted, non-governmental organization created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation of any government...
and the
Radical Party-Europe:*Radical Democratic Party *Det Radikale Venstre , or Danish Social Liberal Party, Denmark-Italy:*Radical Party *Transnational Radical Party, founded 1988*Italian Radicals, founded 2001...
. Gaddafi also took part in the
G8The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for governments of the six richest countries in the world: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1976, Canada joined the group...
summitThe 35th G8 summit took place in the city of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, on July 8–10, 2009. It was moved from the Sardinian seaside resort of La Maddalena as part of an attempt to redistribute disaster funds after L'Aquila was struck by a devastating earthquake in April 2009...
in
L'AquilaL'Aquila is a city in central Italy, both the capital city of the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 73,150 inhabitants, but has a daily presence in the territory of 100,000 people for study, tertiary activities, jobs and tourism...
in July as
ChairmanThe Chairperson of the African Union is chosen by the Assembly of the African Union, which consists of the heads of state of member countries, to serve a one-year term...
of the
African UnionThe African Union is an intergovernmental organization consisting of 52 African states. Established on July 9 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organization of African Unity...
. During the summit a handshake between US President
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born in Hawaii...
and Muammar Gaddafi took place (the first time the Libyan leader has been greeted by a serving US president), then at summit's official dinner offered by
PresidentThe President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
Giorgio NapolitanoGiorgio Napolitano is an Italian politician and former lifetime senator, the eleventh and current President of the Italian Republic...
US and Libyan leaders upset the ceremony and sat by the Italian Prime Minister and G8 host, Silvio Berlusconi. (According to ceremony, Gaddafi should seat three places after Berlusconi).
Pan-Africanism
Gaddafi has also emerged as a popular African leader. As one of the continent's longest-serving, post-colonial heads of state, the Libyan leader enjoys a reputation among many Africans as an experienced and wise statesman who has been at the forefront of many struggles over the years. Gaddafi has earned the praise of
Nelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, who held office from 1994–99. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto...
and others, and is always a prominent figure in various pan-African organizations, such as the
Organisation of African UnityThe Organisation of African Unity or Organisation de l'Unité Africaine was established on 25 May 1963. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the African Union .-Aims:The OAU had two primary aims:* To promote the unity and...
(now replaced by the
African UnionThe African Union is an intergovernmental organization consisting of 52 African states. Established on July 9 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organization of African Unity...
). In February 2009, upon being elected chairman of the African Union in
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
, Gaddafi told the assembled African leaders: "I shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries work to achieve the
United States of AfricaThe United States of Africa is the name proposed for the concept of a federation of the 53 sovereign states of Africa, with a combined population of 992 million. The United States of Africa, if created, would share the acronym "U.S.A." with the United States of America...
."
Gaddafi is also seen by many Africans as a humanitarian, pouring large amounts of money into sub-Saharan states. Large numbers of Africans have come to Libya to take advantage of the availability of jobs there.
His views on African political and military unification have received a relatively lukewarm response from other African governments. On 29 August 2008, Gaddafi held a public ceremony in Benghazi in which he was self-handed the title "
King of KingsKing of Kings is a title that has been used by several monarchies throughout history, and in many cases the literal title meaning "King of Kings", i.e...
of Africa" with over 200 African traditional rulers and kings as part of a
grassrootsA grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it is natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
effort to encourage African heads of state and government to join with Gaddafi toward a greater political cohesion; this was followed on 1 February 2009 by a coronation ceremony in
Addis AbabaAddis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
,
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
simultaneous with the 53rd African Union Summit, at which he was elected head of the African Union for the year. His January 2009 forum for African kings, however, was cancelled by the Ugandan government (
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
was to host the forum), since the invitation of traditional rulers to discussion of political affairs contravened Uganda's current constitution, and according to Ugandan foreign ministry spokesperson James Mugume, would have led to instability.
The title of "King of Kings" was reiterated by Gaddafi at the 2009 Arab League Summit, at which he claimed to be the King of Kings, "leader of the Arab leaders" and "imam of the Muslims" in his criticism of King
Abdullah* Khaled bin Abdullah* Mutaib bin Abdullah* Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah* Faisal bin Abdullah* Sultan bin Abdullah* Turki bin Abdullah* Mish'al bin Abdullah* Saud bin Abdullah* Mansur bin Abdullah* Mashhor bin Abdullah* Bader bin Abdullah* Bandar bin Abdullah...
of
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south...
prior to storming out of the summit.
Notwithstanding his claims of concern for his African roots, Gaddafi has often expressed an overt contempt for some African dwellers of Libya, the Berbers, and for
their languageThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
, maintaining that the very existence of Berbers in North Africa is a myth created by colonialists. He adopted several measures forbidding the use of Berber, and often attacks this language in official speeches, with statements like: "If your mother transmits you this language, she nourishes you with the milk of the colonialist, she feeds you their poison" (1985).
'NATO of the South'
In September 2009, at a
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
-
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
summit on
Isla MargaritaMargarita Island is the largest island of the Nueva Esparta state in Venezuela, situated in the Caribbean Sea, off the northeastern coast of the country. The state also contains two other smaller islands: Coche and Cubagua. The capital is La Asunción, located in a river valley of the same name....
in
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
, Colonel Gaddafi joined the host,
Hugo ChávezHugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the President of Venezuela. As the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Chávez promotes a political doctrine of participatory democracy, socialism and Latin American and Caribbean cooperation...
, in calling for an "anti-imperialist" front across Africa and
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. Gaddafi proposed the establishment of a South Atlantic Treaty Organization to rival
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
, saying: "The world’s powers want to continue to hold on to their power. Now we have to fight to build our own power."
UN General Assembly speech
On 23 September 2009, Colonel Gaddafi addressed the 64th session of the
United Nations General AssemblyFor two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:*General Assembly members*General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, his first visit to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in part because a Libyan diplomat, Ali Treki, has just become president of the General Assembly for 2009-10.. Gaddafi spoke for one hour and 36 minutes.
A translation of the speech courtesy of
Jamahiriya News AgencyThe Jamahiriya News Agency, also known as JANA, is the official state news agency in Libya. It was founded in 1964 by a government decree amended in 1970 after the coup d'état....
(JANA) the official Libyan news agency, is available here.
Gaddafi spoke in favor of the preamble to the
United Nations CharterThe United Nations Charter is the treaty that forms and establishes the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the Herbst Theatre of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on June 26, 1945, by 50 of the 51 original...
, but rejected several provisions of the rest of the Charter; and criticized the United Nations for failing to prevent 65 wars, and invited the General Assembly to investigate the wars that the Security Council had not authorized, and for those responsible to be brought before the
International Criminal CourtThe International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .The court came into being on 1 July 2002 — the...
.
Following Colonel Gaddafi's speech, in which he criticized the UN Security Council (UNSC) calling it the "Terror Council", Gaddafi failed to attend a special Security Council heads-of-state meeting on 24 September 2009, when a resolution calling for a reduction in the number of nuclear weapons was passed unanimously.
Disappearance Of Imam Musa al-Sadr
In August 1978, the
LebaneseLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
Shia leader
Musa al-SadrFor the Twelver Shī‘ah Imām, see Mūsá al-KāżimSayyid Mūsá aṣ-Ṣadr , was an Iranian-born Lebanese philosopher and a prominent Shī‘ah religious leader who spent many years of his life in Lebanon as a religious and political leader.-Early life:Mūsá aṣ-Ṣadr was born in Qom,...
and two companions departed for Libya to meet with government officials. They were never heard of again. At the time, Musa al-Sadr founded
Amal MovementAmal Movement is short for the Lebanese Resistance Detachments the acronym for which, in Arabic, is "amal", meaning "hope."Amal was founded in 1975 as the militia wing of the Movement of the Disinherited, a Shi'a political movement founded by...
, a liberal-Shia Lebanese resistance movement (which later went on to oppose the Israeli invasion of Lebanon). However Amal Movement became powerful much to the annoyance of the PLO which was based primarily in south Lebanon. Libya has consistently denied responsibility, claiming that al-Ṣadr and his companions left Libya for
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. Some others have reported that he remains secretly in jail in Libya. Al-Ṣadr's disappearance continues to be a major dispute between
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
and Libya. Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri claimed that the Libyan regime, and particularly the Libyan leader, were responsible for the disappearance of Imam Musa Sadr, London-based Asharq Al-Awsat, a Saudi-run pan-Arab daily reported on 27 August 2006.
According to Iranian General Mansour Qadar, the then head of Syrian security,
Rifaat al-AssadRifaat al-Assad is the younger brother of the former President of Syria, Hafiz al-Assad, and the uncle of the current President Bashar al-Assad, all of whom come from the minority Alawite Muslim sect...
, told the Iranian ambassador to Syria that Gaddafi was planning to kill al-Ṣadr. On 27 August 2008, Gaddafi was indicted by the government of Lebanon for al-Sadr's disappearance.
Internal dissent
In October 1993, there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Gaddafi by elements of the Libyan army. On 14 July 1996, bloody riots followed a football match in Tripoli organised by Gaddafi's son, as a protest against Gaddafi.
There are a number of political groups opposed to Gaddafi:
- National Conference of the Libyan Opposition
- National Front for the Salvation of Libya
The National Front for the Salvation of Libya is an opposition movement to Muammar al-Gaddafi's regime in Libya. The NFSL was established on October 7, 1981, when it publicly announced its formation in a press conference held in Khartoum, Sudan's capital...
- Committee for Libyan National Action in Europe
A website, actively seeking his overthrow, was set up in 2006 and lists 343 victims of
murder and political assassination.
The Libyan League for Human Rights (LLHR) – based in
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
– petitioned Gaddafi to set up an independent inquiry into the February 2006 unrest in Benghazi in which some 30 Libyans and foreigners were killed.
Fathi EljahmiFathi Eljahmi was Libya's "most prominent democratic dissident" until his death and received significant international attention....
was a prominent
dissidentA dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
who has been imprisoned since 2002 for calling for increased
democratizationDemocratization is the transition to a more democratic political regime. It may be the transition from an authoritarian regime to a full democracy or transition from a semi-authoritarian political system to a democratic political system...
in Libya.
Great Manmade River
It is the largest underground network of
pipesPipes may refer to:*Pipeline *Pipe *PIPES *Daniel Pipes*Richard Pipes*Yahoo! Pipes*Bagpipes or uilleann pipes*PIPE deal or private investment in public equity*Pipes...
and viaducts in the world. It consists of more than 1300 wells, most more than 500 m
deepIn the oil and gas industry, depth in a well is the measurement, for any point in that well, of the distance between a reference point or elevation, and that point...
, and supplies 6,500,000 m³ of fresh water per day from beneath the Sahara Desert to the cities in the north, the
BenghaziBenghazi or Bengasi is the second largest city in Libya and the main city of the Cyrenaica region . It is also a district of Libya of the wider city area...
region on the Mediterranean coast,
TripoliTripoli is the largest and capital city of Libya.Tripoli has a population of 1.69 million...
, Benghazi,
SirtSirt, also Surt and Sirte is a city in Libya, in the Surt District, seat of some important governmental institutions and hometown of the Libyan leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi.-Site of Darfur talks:...
and elsewhere. These
aquiferAn aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
s consist of vast quantities of fresh water trapped in the underlying strata between 38,000 and 14,000 years ago, though some pockets are only 7,000 years old.
Construction on the first phase started in 1984, and cost about $5 billion. The completed project may total $25 billion.
Muammar al-Gaddafi has described it as the "
Eighth Wonder of the WorldThe Seven Wonders of the World is a well known list of seven remarkable constructions of classical antiquity. It was based on guidebooks popular among the ancient Hellenic tourists...
" and presented the project as a gift to the
Third WorldThe term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO or communism and the Soviet Union...
.
Astronomical observatory
Libya, the native country of
Eratosthenes of CyreneEratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, elegiac poet, athlete, geographer, and astronomer. He made several discoveries and inventions including a system of latitude and longitude...
, born in today's
Shahhat Shahhat is a town in the District of Al Jabal al Akhdar in north-eastern Libya. Cyrene was located in the same area in ancient times. It's located 15 km east of Al Bayda.-External links:**...
, ancient
astronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars, and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and chief
librarianA librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs. Typically, librarians work in a public or college library, an elementary or secondary school media...
of the Great Library of Alexandria, will be the seat of
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
's largest astronomical
observatoryAn observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial and/or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
.
The Libyan National Telescope Project costing nearly 10 million
euroThe euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
s, was ordered by Muammar al-Gaddafi, who has a passionate interest in
astronomyAstronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
.
Built by
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
's REOSC, the optical department of the
SAGEM GroupSAGEM was a major French company involved in defence electronics, consumer electronics and communication systems.In 2005, Sagem merged with SNECMA to form SAFRAN...
, the robotic telescope will be two metres in diameter and remote-controlled. A possible desert site at 2200 meters above sea level near
KufraKufra is an oasis in Southeastern Libya that played a minor role in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. It is in a particularly isolated location not only because it is in the middle of the Sahara Desert but also because it is surrounded on three sides by depressions...
could be chosen.
It will be housed in an air-conditioned building, with a network of four weather stations deployed at a distance of 10 kilometers around it to warn of impending
sandstormSandstorm can refer to:* Dust storm, a storm caused by strong winds and blowing sand or dust* "Sandstorm ", an electronica song by Darude* "Sandstorm", a song by Level 42 on the album Strategy* Sandstorm: The Jim Boz Dance Company...
s that could damage its fragile
opticsOptics is the branch of physics which studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
.
Personal life and family
Gaddafi has eight children, seven of them sons. His eldest son, Muhammad al-Gaddafi, was born to a wife now in disfavour, but runs the Libyan Olympic Committee. The next eldest son by his second wife is Saif al-Islam Muammar Al-Gaddafi, who was born in 1972 and is an architect. He runs a charity (GIFCA) which has been involved in negotiating freedom for hostages taken by Islamic militants, especially in the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
. In 2006, after sharply criticizing his father's regime, Saif Al Islam briefly left Libya, reportedly to take on a position in banking outside of the country. He returned to Libya soon after, launching an environment-friendly initiative to teach children how they can help clean up parts of Libya. He is involved in compensation negotiations with
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The third eldest, Saadi Gaddafi, is married to the daughter of a military commander. Saadi runs the Libyan Football Federation and signed for various professional teams including Italian
Serie ASerie A, called for sponsorship reasons as Serie A TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of the Italian football league system operating for eighty years from 1929. It is organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new league like the English Premier...
team
U.C. SampdoriaUnione Calcio Sampdoria is a football club based in Genoa, Italy. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria...
, although without appearing in first team games. Gaddafi's fourth son, Moatessem-Billah Gaddafi, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Libyan army.
He fled to
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
after allegedly masterminding an Egyptian backed coup attempt against his father. Gaddafi forgave Moatessem and he returned to Libya where he now holds the post of national security adviser and heads his own unit within the army. Saif Al Islam and Moatessem-Billah are both seen as possible successors to their father.
The fifth eldest, Motassim Bilal (Hannibal) Gaddafi, once worked for General National Maritime Transport Company, a company that specializes in Libyan oil exports. He is most notable for being involved in a series of violent incidents throughout Europe. In 2001, Hannibal attacked three Italian policemen with a fire extinguisher; in September 2004, he was briefly detained after driving a Porsche at 90 mph in the wrong direction and through red lights down the
Champs-ÉlyséesThe Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with rents as high as USD1.5 million per 1,000 square feet of...
while intoxicated; and in 2005, Hannibal allegedly beat model and then girlfriend Alin Skaf, who later filed an assault suit against him.
On 15 July 2008, Hannibal and his wife were held for two days and charged with assaulting two of their staff in
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
and then released on bail on 17 July. The government of Libya subsequently put a boycott on Swiss imports, reduced flights between Libya and Switzerland, stopped issuing visas to Swiss citizens, recalled diplomats from Bern, and forced all Swiss companies such as ABB and
NestléNestlé S.A. is a multinational packaged food company founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, and listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange with a turnover of over 87 billion Swiss francs...
to close offices. General National Maritime Transport Company, which owns a large refinery in Switzerland, also halted oil shipments to Switzerland. Two Swiss businessmen who were in Libya at the time have, ever since, been denied permission to leave the country. At the
35th G8 summitThe 35th G8 summit took place in the city of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, on July 8–10, 2009. It was moved from the Sardinian seaside resort of La Maddalena as part of an attempt to redistribute disaster funds after L'Aquila was struck by a devastating earthquake in April 2009...
in July 2009, Gaddafi called Switzerland a "world mafia" and called for the country to be split between France, Germany and Italy.
Gaddafi's two youngest sons are Saif Al Arab and Khamis, who is a police officer in Libya.
Gaddafi's only daughter is Ayesha al-Gaddafi, a lawyer who had joined the defense team of executed former Iraqi leader
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. She married a cousin of her father in 2006.
His adopted daughter, Hanna, was killed in the April 1986 United States bombing of Libya. At a "concert for peace", held on 15 April 2006 in Tripoli to mark the 20th anniversary of the bombing raid, U.S. singer
Lionel RichieLionel Brockman Richie, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, record producer who has sold more than 100 million records.- Early years :...
told the audience:
- "Hanna will be honoured tonight because of the fact that you've attached peace to her name."
In January 2002, Gaddafi purchased a 7.5% share of Italian football club Juventus for USD 21 million, through
Lafico ("
Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company"). This followed a long-standing association with the Italian industrialist
Gianni AgnelliGiovanni Agnelli, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , better known as Gianni Agnelli, was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat...
and car manufacturer
FiatFiat S.p.A., an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial and industrial group based in Turin in the Piedmont region. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli. Fiat has also...
.
Gaddafi holds an honorary degree from
Megatrend UniversityThe Megatrend University is a private university located in Belgrade, Serbia. It was founded in 1989 and is organized into 19 institutions....
in
BelgradeBelgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...
conferred on him by former Yugoslav President
Zoran LilićZoran Lilić is a Serbian politician. He served as President of the National Assembly of Serbia in 1993 and as President of Yugoslavia from 1993 to 1997....
.
Name
Because of the lack of standardization of transliterating written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name can be
transliteratedTransliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another in a systematic way.-Definitions:From an information-theoretical point of view, transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter...
in many different ways. An article published in the
London Evening StandardThe London Evening Standard is a free local daily newspaper, published in tabloid format in London, England. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the southeast of England, with coverage of national and international news and a strong emphasis on City of London finance...
in 2004 lists a total of 37 spellings of his name, while a 1986 column by
The Straight Dope quotes a list of 32 spellings known at the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
.
Muammar Gaddafi is the spelling used by
TimeTime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
magazine,
BBC NewsBBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online....
, the majority of the British press and by the English service of Al-Jazeera. The
Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
,
CNNCable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is an U.S. cable news network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States...
, and Fox News use the spelling Moammar Gadhafi. The
Edinburgh Middle East ReportThe Edinburgh Middle East Report is Scotland's only publication dedicated to the Middle East...
uses "Mu'ammar Qaddafi" and the
U.S. Department of StateThe United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States government, similar to foreign ministries, foreign offices, ministries of external relations, etc. in other countries...
uses "Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi".
In 1986, Gaddafi reportedly responded to a
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
school's letter in English using the spelling "Moammar El-Gadhafi". The
Xinhua News AgencyThe Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in the PRC. It is one of the two news agencies in the PRC, the other being the China News Service. Xinhua is an...
uses "Muammar Khaddafi" in its English reports. This extensive confusion of naming was used as the subject for a segment of
Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a weekly late-night sketch comedy and variety show filmed in New York City. It made its debut on October 11, 1975, under a slightly different title. The show features a regular cast of comedy actors, joined by a guest host and musical act...
's
Weekend UpdateWeekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch which comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...
in the early 1980s.
In
standard ArabicStandard Arabic or Literary Arabic is the standard and literary variety of Arabic used in writing and in formal speech...
the name
معمر القذافي (
مُـعَـمَّـرُ الـقَـذافـي with all vowels and elongation) is pronounced in IPA: /mu'ʕam:aru lqa'ða:fi/. /ʕ/ represents a pharyngeal sound (ع), not present in English. The second /m/ is geminated (doubled). In spoken
Libyan ArabicLibyan Arabic is a collective term for the closely related varieties of Arabic spoken in Libya. It can be divided into two major dialect areas; the eastern centred in Benghazi, and the western centred in Tripoli...
voiceless uvular plosiveThe voiceless uvular plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is pronounced like [k], except that the tongue makes contact not on the soft palate but on the uvula...
/q/ (ق) may be substituted with /g/ or /k/; and /ð/ (ذ) (same as English "th" in "this") may be replaced with simple /d/. Vowel /u/ may alternate with /o/ in spoken Arabic. Case endings are dropped (/mu'ʕam:aru/ -> /mu'ʕam:ar/). There are many ways to romanize Arabic and its regional varieties. However, the Arabic spelling of the name does not change. Thus, /mu'ʕam:aru lqa'ða:fi/ may be pronounced as /mo'ʕam:ar alga'da:fi/ colloquially, which may cause a slightly different romanization. The definite article al- (ال) is often omitted. Here, the initial /a/ is silent because of the preceding /u/.
Gaddafi himself prefers in his personal website to use the spelling "Muammar Al Gathafi"
The show
In September 2006, at the
ENOEnglish National Opera is is an opera company based in London, England, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, the UK-based electronic band
Asian Dub FoundationAsian Dub Foundation are a British electronica band, that plays a mix of breakbeat, dub, dancehall and ragga, also using rock instruments, acknowledging a punk influence.-Biography:...
created and did six performances of a show commissioned by
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
and based on Gaddafi's story, called "Gaddafi: A Living Myth". The title role was played by
Ramon TikaramRamon Pramod Junior Tikaram is a British stage and screen actor of Indo-Fijian and Malaysian descent.-Early life:...
. The book was by Shan Khan and the direction by
David FreemanDavid Freeman may refer to:*David Freeman , collector, historian, and authority on old-time and bluegrass music*David G. Freeman, badminton player from the 1940s*S...
. Although critics were generally unflattering in the English-speaking press, coverage in Muslim countries was more positive.
Postage stamps
The Libyan Posts (GPTC General Posts and Telecommunications Company) released many postage issues (stamps, souvenir sheets,
postal stationeryA piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as an envelope, letter sheet, post card, lettercard, aérogramme or newspaper wrapper, with an imprinted stamp.- Format :...
, booklets, etc.) including the subject of Muammar al-Gaddafi. The first issue was a souvenir sheet celebrating the
6th Anniversary of the September Revolution in 1975 (ref.
Scott catalogueThe Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Co, a subsidiary of Amos Press, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the entire world which its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in six large volumes and is also produced in...
n.583 – Michel catalogue block 18).
See also
- Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights
The Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights is an annual prize founded by and named after Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. It was established by its namesake along with Swiss globalisation critic Jean Ziegler....
- HIV trial in Libya
The HIV trial in Libya concerns the trials, appeals and eventual release of six foreign medical workers charged with conspiring to deliberately infect over 400 children with HIV in 1998, causing an epidemic at El-Fatih Children's Hospital in Benghazi.The defendants were a Palestinian medical...
- List of national leaders
External links
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