Libya — Protests and Revolt

Libya, an oil-rich nation in North Africa, spent more than 40 years under the firm, if erratic, leadership of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. But in February 2011, the unrest sweeping through much of the Arab world erupted in several Libyan cities. Though it began with a relatively organized core of antigovernment opponents in Benghazi, its spread to the capital of Tripoli was swift and spontaneous. Colonel Qaddafi lashed out with a level of violence unseen in either of the other uprisings, but an inchoate opposition cobbled together the semblance of a transitional government, fielded a makeshift rebel army and portrayed itself to the West and Libyans as an alternative to Colonel Qaddafi's corrupt and repressive rule.
Momentum shifted quickly, however, and the rebels faced the possibilty of being outgunned and outnumbered in what increasingly looked like a mismatched civil war. Then as Colonel Qaddafi’s troops advanced to within 100 miles of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in the west, the United Nations Security Council voted to authorize military action, a risky foreign intervention aimed at averting a bloody rout of the rebels by loyalist forces. On March 19, American and European forces began a broad campaign of strikes against Colonel Qaddafi and his government, unleashing warplanes and missiles in a military intervention on a scale not seen in the Arab world since the Iraq war.
The attacks prompted two of Colonel Qaddafi's sons to float a proposal that would remove him from power, which the rebels rejected. Meanwhile, their ragtag forces surged forward and back, unable to make progress against the army despite the help from above but no longer in grave peril.
By late May, the weeks of NATO bombing seemed to put the momentum back on the side of the rebels, who broke a bloody siege of the western city of Misurata and made modest territorial gains in the country's east and west. Colonel Qaddafi rebuffed a mediation effort by South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, saying he would fight on. But even in government-held Tripoli, residents began to speak openly of their desire for him to go.
In Washington, a constitutional conflict briefly flared after President Obama asserted that American operations did not rise to the level of “hostilities” as defined in the War Powers Resolution, and that Congressional approval was therefore not necessary. A measure to authorize the mission for a year was rejected by the House, as Democrats deserted Mr. Obama in droves. But a Republican bill that would have severely limited the American role in the mission, also failed, with many Republicans voting against it — reflecting a bipartisan muddle on the issue.
In July, the United States joined 30 other countries in extending diplomatic recognition to the rebel government, a move that will allow the administration to give the Transitional National Council some of the Libyan funds that have been frozen in American banks.
Latest Developments
Aug. 15 Colonel Qaddafi’s interior minister, Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah, arrived unexpectedly with his family in Cairo in an apparent high-level defection from the government. If confirmed, Mr. Abdullah’s defection would signal a new crack in the Qaddafi government after weeks of seeming stability. Meanwhile, fighters opposing Colonel Qaddafi advanced on several fronts, seizing ground in the strategic city of Zawiyah that placed them on Tripoli’s doorstep and threatening to cut off an important supply line for the colonel’s loyalists.
Aug. 8 Rebel leaders dissolved their own cabinet in an effort to placate the family of assassinated rebel military leader Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes and quiet discord in a movement already struggling to remove Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, from power. The move left the rebels without several of its leaders — including the ministers of defense, finance, interior and justice — as they try to fight a three-front war, run dozens of cities under their control and rein in armed militias that have multiplied since the February uprising.
Aug. 3 After six months battling a rebellion that his family portrayed as an Islamist conspiracy, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s son and one-time heir apparent said that he was reversing course to forge a behind-the-scenes alliance with radical Islamist elements among the Libyan rebels to drive out their more liberal-minded confederates. The leading Islamist whom Mr. Qaddafi identified as his main counterpart in the talks acknowledged their conversations but dismissed any suggestion of an alliance. He said the Libyan Islamists supported the rebel leaders’ calls for a pluralistic democracy without the Qaddafis.

Aug. 1 The mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, the rebel leader, raised new questions about his own loyalties, and about the unity and discipline of the rebel troops. Rebel fighters waged an eight-hour gunfight in Benghazi against what their leaders called a “fifth column” of Qaddafi loyalists who had posed as a rebel brigade, the latest sign of discord and trickery in the rebel ranks to emerge since the killing.
July 28 The top rebel military commander, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, was killed in murky circumstances, and members of his tribe greeted the announcement with gunfire and angry threats. The violent outburst stirred fears that a tribal feud could divide the forces struggling to topple the Libyan dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

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General Information on Libya

Official Name: Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Capital: Tripoli (Current local time)
Government Type: Jamahiriya (a state of the masses) in theory, governed by the populace through local councils; in practice, an authoritarian state.
Chief of State: Muammar el-Qaddafi, Col.
Population: 6.037 million (2007, est.)
Area: 679,362 square miles, or slightly larger than Alaska.
Languages: Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities.
Literacy: Total Population: 82.6%; Male: 92.4%; Female: 72% (2003 est.)
GDP Per Capita: $12,300 (2003)
Year of Independence: 1951