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Libya

Libya. Deep History . Ruled by the Romans Then Ottoman Then Italians Only became a unified political entity in the last two hundred years (was set up as a united area by Ottomans and then Italians) Became independent when Italy lost WWII Overwhelmingly Islamic country

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Libya

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  1. Libya

  2. Deep History • Ruled by the Romans • Then Ottoman • Then Italians • Only became a unified political entity in the last two hundred years (was set up as a united area by Ottomans and then Italians) • Became independent when Italy lost WWII • Overwhelmingly Islamic country • Considers itself at least as much Middle-Eastern as African • Discovery of Oil in the 1950s has been important to the country’s history • In 1969, Muammar Q’addafi led a military coup that seized power in Libya from the pro-Western gov’t

  3. Libya Since the Coup • Q’addafi set up an Arab Totalitarian Gov’t • Censorship, absence of political parties • Q’addafi is anti-Western, broke off relations with Britain and the U.S. and became active in its support of Palestine in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle

  4. State Sponsored Terrorism • By the 1980s, the U.S. was accusing Libya of officially supporting terrorism • The U.S. bombed Libya in response to certain terrorist attacks • The most famous of the Libyan attacks was the bombing of a passenger jet heading to the U.S. from London • It blew up over Pan Am Flight 103 • Over 250 people were killed

  5. Embargo • UN placed sanctions and a trade embargo on Libya, ordering them to pay the families of Lockerbie victims… • Q’addafi refused • After ten years of sanctions, Q’addafi began to give ground… he turned over terrorism suspects to the UN • In 2002 he agreed to pay money to Lockerbie victims • The U.S. was very eager to restore relations with Libya, partly to prove that its responses to 9-11 were having the intended effects on international terrorists

  6. Most freedoms in Libya are still highly restricted: speech, press, assembly, religion, etc. • Oil wealth in Libya makes the country much richer than most other African nations, although the current crash in oil prices hurts • Country seems generally interested in rehabilitating relationships with the West… wants to expand tourism, has welcomed Western companies back into the country • High literacy… sparsely concentrated population… free public education…

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