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Libya - History
Main article: History of Libya
Tripoli and Cyrenaica were Roman colonies until they were conquered by Arab Muslims in the 7th century. By the 19th century the area was an increasingly independent Ottoman province until it came under the control of Italy in 1912.
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 Muammar al-Qaddafi, who came to power in a coup and deposed the Libyan monarchy of King Idris and declared the establishment of the Libyan Arab Republic. Qaddafi moved quickly to nationalize foreign assets, expel foreign troops, and close foreign libraries and cultural centers. At the time, Libya was the fourth largest oil producer in the non-communist world, surpassed only by Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela. The Qaddafi government rapidly began to nationalize Libya's oil companies, taking complete control of some while forcing others to surrender majority control to the government. Eventually, Qaddafi expelled all Western oil men from the country with the result that Libyan production dropped dramatically. According to this BusinessWeek article, because of the nationalization of its oil companies and the U.S. led sanctions, notably in 1992 by the United Nations, in 2005 Libyan production was still down by more than 50% from its peak in 1970.
Qaddafi rejected both Soviet Communism and Western capitalism and claimed that he was charting an independent course, portraying himself as a champion of "oppressed peoples" and Third World nations seeking to assert their independence on the international stage. Despite this, he received mostly Soviet support until the USSR's collapse in 1991.
U.S.-Libyan relations deteriorated when on December 2, 1979, Libyan mobs sacked the United States embassy in Tripoli. Qaddafi referred to the incident as a "spontaneous demonstration" and denied any involvement. It is suspected that he ordered the attack to show sympathy to Ayatollah Khomeini and the new government of Iran. In May 1980, the United States withdrew all U.S. diplomats but did not break off diplomatic ties with Libya.
In 1980, the Libyan government paid Jimmy Carter's brother, Billy Carter, $220,000 to lobby for better diplomatic relations between the United States and Libya.
On May 6, 1981, four and a half months after Ronald Reagan became president of the United States, the United States government accused the Libyan government of sponsoring international terrorism. All Libyan diplomats were expelled and the United States officially broke diplomatic relations between the two nations. That same day, the US closed the Libyan "People's Bureau" (embassy) in Washington, D.C. On August 2, 1981, American jets shot down two attacking Libyan warplanes during US naval exercises in the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claims as national waters.
The Reagan administration saw Libya as an unacceptable player on the international stage because of its backing of Palestinian armed groups, its support for revolutionary Iran in its 1980-1988 war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq (see Iran-Iraq War), and its assistance to guerrilla movements in different parts of the world, many which were conducted by separatist groups such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
In March 1982 the U.S. declared a ban on the import of Libyan petroleum and the export to Libya of U.S. industrial technology items, most of which were used for oil; Europe did not follow suit.
Relations between the UK and Libya became strained following the 1984 Libyan Embassy Siege, when shots were fired at a crowd of protesters, killing a policewoman, leading to a break in relations.
The U.S. attacked Libyan patrol boats from January to March 1986 during clashes over access to the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claimed as territorial waters but was not recognized internationally. Qaddafi had long referred to it as the "line of death". Later, on April 14, 1986, Reagan ordered major bombing raids against suspected terrorist sites in Tripoli and Benghazi that killed approximately 60 people. The bombings followed U.S. accusations of Libyan involvement in an explosion at the West Berlin La Belle nightclub frequented by U.S. servicemen on April 5, which had killed 3. Among the victims of the April 14 bombing raid was the adopted daughter of Qaddafi. However the raid appeared to have had its desired effect as Libyan attacks against Americans became more subtle, with the exception of the Lockerbie bombing.
The United Nations imposed sanctions against Libya in 1992 following the Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie bombing. Elaborate diplomatic maneuvers in 1998 and 1999 led finally in April to Qaddafi's handing over two Libyans for trial of the Lockerbie bombing. In January 2001 the Pan Am 103 trial ended with one conviction (with life imprisonment) and one acquittal. Qaddafi denounced the conviction. 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 its 23-year travel ban to Libya, and on September 21 that year eliminated the remaining economic sanctions, lifting the prohibitions of the Libyan Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 550, and unblocking property and property interests previously restricted under those regulations.
Other related archives"jamahiriya", 19 December, 1912, 1969, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984 Libyan Embassy Siege, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 19th century, 2003, 2004, 7th century, AIDS scandal in Libya, Africa, Ajdabiya, Al Jufrah, Al Kufrah, Algeria, April 14, April 5, Arab, Arabic, Ayatollah Khomeini, Az Zawiyah, Benghazi, Berber, Billy Carter, BusinessWeek, Chad, China, Communications in Libya, Communism, Cyrenaica, Darnah, December 2, Demographics of Libya, Economy of Libya, Egypt, Europe, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, February 23, February 26, Fezzan, Flag of Libya, Foreign relations of Libya, Geography of Libya, Ghadames, Ghat, Great Manmade River, Greek, Green Book, Gulf of Sidra, History of Libya, Iran, Iran-Iraq War, Iraq, Islam in Libya, Islamic law, Israel, Italy, Jamahiriya, Jimmy Carter, King Idris, Kufra, La Belle, List of cities in Libya, March, March 7, May, May 6, Mediterranean Sea, Middle East, Middle East conflict, Military of Libya, Muammar al-Qaddafi, Murzuq, Music of Libya, Muslims, Niger, Nile, North Africa, North Korea, Northern Africa, Ottoman, Pakistan, Palestine Liberation Organization, Palestinian, Pan Am Flight 103, Politics of Libya, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Pyongyang, Roman, Ronald Reagan, Sabha, Saddam Hussein, Saudi Arabia, Second World War, September 12, Soviet, Sudan, Third World, Transportation in Libya, Tripoli, Tripolitania, Tunisia, U.S., United Kingdom, United Nations, United States, Venezuela, Washington, D.C., West Berlin, White House, ancient Greece, capital, capitalism, coup, demonstration, dictatorship, dust storms, embassy, government, gypsum, human rights, major bombing raids, monarchy, mustard gas, nuclear weapons, oil, petroleum, ruling by decree, sanctions, sandstorms, separatist, sirocco, socialist, state sponsored terrorism, terrorism, transliterated, turkey, weapons of mass destruction
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
