Libya

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The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya or Libya (Arabic: ليبيا) is a country in North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, located between Egypt on the east, Sudan on the southeast, Chad and Niger on the south and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. Its capital city is Tripoli.

(Note that in ancient Greece, Libya is used in a broader meaning, encompassing all of North Africa west of Egypt. Indeed, sometimes the name refers to the entire continent of Africa. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and the Cyrenaica.) In Greek mythology, Dido came from Libya.

الجماهيرية العربية الليبية الشعبية الإشتراكية
al-Jamāhīrīyah al-^cArabīya al-Lībīyah ash-Sha^cbīyah al-Ishtirākīyah

Image:Libya_flag_medium.png Image:Libyseal.gif
(In Detail) (In Detail)

Location of Libya
Official language Arabic
Capital Tripoli
Leader of the Revolution Moammar Al Qadhafi
President Zentani Muhammad az-Zentani
Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem
Area
- Total Ranked 16th
1,759,540 km²
Population
- Total (Year)
- Population density>Density Ranked 103rd
5,499,074
3.1/km²
Currency Libyan dinar
Time zone UTC +3
Independence
- Declared (From Italy)
December 24, 1951
National anthem Allahu Akbar
Internet TLD .ly
Calling Code 218

Table of contents

1 History
2 Politics
3 Municipalities
4 Geography
5 Economy
6 Demographics
7 Culture
8 Miscellaneous topics

History

Main article: History of Libya

Tripoli and Cyrenaica were Roman colonies; and were conquered by Arab Muslims in the 7th century. By the 19th century it was an increasingly independent Ottoman province; and came under the control of Italy in 1911.

After the Second World War Libya was granted independence, as a condition of the Allied peace treaty with Italy. Since 1969 Libya has been ruled by Colonel Moammar Al Qadhafi, who came to power in a coup and deposed the Libyan monarchy.

On April 14th 1986 the United States bombed Qadhafi's palace in Tripoli in retaliation for Libyan sponsorship of terrorism against United States citizens. The United Nations imposed sanctions against Libya in 1992 following the Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie disaster. The sanctions were lifted on September 12, 2003, after Libya agreed to accept responsibility and make payment of US$2.7 billion to the families of those who died in the bombing. In the same vein, on February 26, 2004, the United States lifted their 23-year travel ban to Libya, although many other restrictions currently remain in place, such as economic sanctions and the ban on flights by U.S. airlines to Libya.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Libya

The Libyan system of government is quite unusual. Qadhafi claims that Libya is a "pure socialist state", and as such the formal institutions of government are purposely quite vague. Qadhafi himself is not even technically the "President" or "Prime Minister" of the country, and instead describes himself as a sort of "guide" to help the Libyan people in socialism. Libya has no constitution, and the laws of the land come from Islamic law, and Qadhafi's "Green Book" of political philosophy. The government is called a "jamahiriya," a modification of the Arabic word "jumhuriya" (republic) that translates loosely as "people's state."

In practice, however, Libya is essentially a dictatorship, with Qadhafi ruling by decree, assisted by a small clique of military and political officials. Libya has been accused of widespread human rights abuses, and state sponsored terrorism.

On December 19, 2003, Libya admitted having had a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programme and simultaneously announced its intention to end it and dismantle all existing WMD to be verified by unconditional inspections. Libya also agreed to limit its long range missiles to 300 km. The announcement came after clandestine diplomatic negotiations with the United Kingdom and United States since March 2003. On March 7, 2004, the White House confirmed that the last of Libya's nuclear weapons-related equipment had been sent to the United States.

Music of Libya

Miscellaneous topics

Communications in Libya
Transportation in Libya
Military of Libya
Foreign relations of Libya
Libya's wars against other Arab states are discussed in the entry Middle East conflict

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

Africa

Other areas

In Greek mythology, Libya was a daughter of Memphis and Epaphus. Poseidon loved her. The country, Libya, described above, was named after her.