Muammar al-Qaddafi: Head of State - Libya
(1942 - )
Official title: Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Capital: Tripoli (population 1,083,000; 1988 estimate)
Main port: Tripoli
Population: 5,225,000 (1994 estimate) with an annual growth rate of 3-4%. More than two-thirds of the population live in the coastal area.
Population profile: Mixed Arab and Berber descent; a tribal society. 75% of the population live in urbanareas.
Land area: 1,759,540 sq km (679,362 sq miles)
Official language: Arabic; with some Berber spoken. English and Italian are used in business.
Currency: Libyan dinar, divided into 1,000 dirhams; issued by the Central Bank of Libya.
Government: Socialist state, administered through the General People's Congress.
Head of state: Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi (since 1969)
Religion: Islam; 97% of the population are Sunnite Muslims.
Time zone: GMT +2 hours
Electricity: 240 volts. Available almost everywhere, except in very isolated parts.
Weights and measures: Metric
Muammar al-Qaddafi (also spelled Kaddafi, Khadafy, or Gaddafi), was born June 1942.
A devout Muslim, he was born into a nomadic desert family and attended a religious primary school. Before being expelled from a Fazzan secondary school for Pan-Arab political activity he made several friends who later joined him in toppling King Idris. His only travel abroad before the coup was the 9 months he spent in a training course in Britain after graduating (1965) from the Libyan Military Academy.
He became head of state in Libya on Sept. 1, 1969, when he led a coup against King IDRIS I. Since coming to power, he has led his country on a course of radical revolution at home and abroad, drawing international attention for his lavish support of radical causes.
The Qaddafi regime was popular in its early years, as it undertook serious efforts to distribute the country's large oil revenues equitably and to assert Libya's independence and nonalignment. By the mid-1970s, however, signs of disaffection appeared as Qaddafi embarked on a radical revolution abroad and at home, imposing the utopian socialist dictates of his Green Book, which outlines his revolutionary philosophy. Although Qaddafi formally resigned his government positions, the revolutionary system of popular authority proved to be little more than a facade for his growing personal power. His commitment to unifying the Arab world, his opposition to Israel and the United States, and his efforts to export his idiosyncratic revolution met with little success, but he was accused of meddling in the internal affairs of other African nations, supporting various terrorist agroups, and ordering the assassination of Libyan dissidents abroad.
Qaddafi has tried to transform Libya into an egalitarian, socialist state of the masses. In theory, there is no formal government. According to the 1977 constitution, the masses rule themselves through an interlocking network of people's committees that exercise control over virtually all governmental and nongovernmental activities. The highest of these bodies is the General People's Congress (GPC). Qaddafi, Libya's "Revolutionary Leader," has held no formal office since his resignation as secretary-general of the GPC in 1979. The Koran and Islamic law (the sharia) are the basis for the government.
Qaddafi's military intervention in the prolonged civil war in Chad caused alarm among neighboring African countries and led France to intervene on the anti-Libyan side in 1983. Qaddaffi's prestige suffered damage in the spring of 1987 when the army of Chad captured Libyan-occupied bases in northern Chad and seized enormous quantities of Soviet-supplied Libyan armaments. Qaddafi's alleged support of international terrorism led him into conflict with the United States. In 1981, two Libyan planes were downed in a U.S.-Libyan air skirmish in the Gulf of Sidra. In 1986, U.S. warplanes attacked military and "terrorist-related" targets in Tripoli and Benghazi in retaliation for allegedly Libyan-directed terrorist attacks. On Jan. 4, 1989, U. S. warplanes, citing "hostile intent," shot down two Libyan MIG-23 aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea between Crete and the coast of Libya. The clash occurred just days after the U. S. government claimed that Libya was about to complete a factory to produce chemical weapons.
The Personal History of Mohmmar Qadaffi
The role of Col. Mohmmar Qadaffi in numerous murderous attacks and in the training of several transnational terror organizations can not be easily contradicted. Reportedly, Qaddafi is to have been the financier of the "Black September Movement" which perpetrated the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre, was responsible for the direct control of the bombing of a German discotheque that wounded more than eighty U.S. Servicemen in 1988, and is said to have paid "Carlos-the Jackal" to kidnap and release several of the Saudi Arabian and Iranian oil ministers when it fit his purposes to do so.
Col. Qadaffi’s statements to the press should give the reader a clear understanding of his attitude toward America and the Western Democracies. He has been loosely quoted, on several occasions, as saying that "the streets of America will run red with blood" and "we consider ourselves at a state of war due to the provocations of the U.S. Sixth Fleet and the continued actions of American politicians."
Although Qadaffi has been strangely silent since the U.S. F-111 raid on his compound and several key military targets, intelligence reports have verified his as having provided financial and logistical support for continued terror campaigns against America and her Allies. Several recent civilian airline bombings have all of the earmarks of Libyan involvement. Many mideast experts predict Qaddafi’s major involvement in future attacks against the United States . Intelligence analysts point to the disclosure of an identified pharmaceutical plant located in a residential neighborhood, that in actuality may be a chemical munitions factory. Although denied by Qadaffi, this plant is believed to have the capability to produce nerve gases, which will add a new and most fearsome threat to the free world.
Qadaffi’s history is very much like that of Saddam Hussein of Iraq. He was born of Bedouin farmers and tribesmen in the desert. He was reared with the tradition of fighting "Imperialism", as his grandfather was killed by an Italian colonist in 1911. He spent his youth learning of the exploitation of his people by the "foreigners".
Much of the rest of the story involves Qaddafi’s continued desire to be another "Nassar" and to lead the Middle-East in a Pan-Islamic revolution. A complex and very proud man, he appears to be able to use what ever means are at his disposal to accomplish his goals. He has shown a propensity to commit terrorism if it fits his needs. Today, he is more focused on being a financial and logistical supporter of Islamic and pro-Palestinian groups, but can still be expected to be extremely dangerous.
Qaddafi, today, is an elusive and mercurial personage who "meddles" in Middle-east and African affairs, almost at will. He is reported to never sleep in the same place two days in a row, ever since the American air-raid on his camp, that allegedly killed at least one relative. Trusting almost no one, he reportedly has a person guard detail that is sworn to die on his behalf.
The most dangerous thing about Qaddafi is his unpredictability. Some allege that he may be mentally unbalanced, while others say he is "crazy like a fox." Few can predict his next action, but most are certain of his almost total control of Libya, and that he is firmly entrenched with control of the army and political apparatus there.
It is believed that Qaddafi still is a supporter of Islamic and pro-Palestinian causes, although he frequently engages in more rhetoric than action in recent times. His unpredictability, however, could lead him to take whatever action he deems necessary to remain in power and maintain his position in the Arab world.