LIBYA. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
A state in North Africa on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Area - 1.76 million km². Capital - Tripoli (approx. 1.5 million). Administrative division - 26 shaabiy (administrative districts), divided into 378 mahallat (communes).
Population - 5.5 million; mainly Arabs (98%), as well as Berbers and others. The official language is Arabic. The state religion is Sunni Islam. The currency unit is the Libyan dinar = 1000 dirhams.
It has diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation (established with the USSR on September 4, 1955).
National holiday - September 1 - Revolution Day (1969).
Trade union association - General Union of Producers of the Libyan Jamahiriya.
Libya is a Jamahiriya (State of the masses). The basis of legislation is considered to be Sharia (the source of Muslim law). There is no constitution. The political structure of Libya is based on the ideas of the "Third Universal Theory" of the leader of the Libyan revolution, head of state Muammar Gaddafi (outlined in his "Green Book"), which rejects "false forms of democracy" (parliaments, political parties, governments) "as unable to fully express the interests of the people" and proclaims the principle of direct people's power (jamahiriya) in the form of participation of the entire population of the country in resolving issues of state life.
The programmatic goal is to build a "truly socialist society" based on Islamic values. Within this framework, a number of important reforms have been carried out: the nationalization of the oil industry, foreign banks, and companies, an increase in the minimum wage, the introduction of free education and medical care, restrictions on private ownership of real estate, and a significant portion of domestic and foreign trade has passed into the hands of the state.
In March 1977, the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (SPLAJ) was proclaimed, officially abolishing the state, government, and political parties, as well as parliament in its classical form. Libya was divided into 26 administrative units (shaabiy), which in turn were divided into 378 communes (mahallat), managed through primary people's assemblies (PNA) and people's committees. The PNA unites all adult residents of the commune and is authorized to resolve issues of economic and cultural life locally, as well as to make recommendations on matters of domestic and foreign policy of the country. Each people's assembly is headed by a secretariat consisting of a secretary, his deputy, secretaries for the affairs of people's assemblies, people's committees, and professional unions and leagues. The People's Committee of the commune includes as many members as there are heads of people's committees (GNC - ministries) in the composition of the Supreme People's Committee (VNK - government). The people's assemblies and people's committees of the communes hold all legislative and executive power.
The structure of governance in shaabiy generally follows the scheme of organizing the activities of mahallat. Secretaries of people's assemblies and people's committees, mahallat, and shaabiy are part of the General People's Congress (GPC) - parliament, which, being the highest legislative authority, is based on the recommendations of the people's assemblies. The permanent body of the GPC is the Secretariat, consisting of the secretary of the GPC (since January 1994 - Zinatti Mohamed Zinatti), his deputy, and several secretaries on various issues.
The highest executive authority in the country is the Supreme People's Committee (VNK), headed by a secretary (Shukri Mohamed Ghanem) and including the heads of the GNC. Each GNC unites all members of the people's committees responsible for that sector at the commune level and meets 3-4 times a year, performing coordinating functions.
The historical leadership headed by M. Gaddafi, which also includes A. Jaber, M. Harroubi, and X. Khaimeidi, who led the revolution on September 1, 1969, is not part of the administrative structure. It was formed in 1974 with the aim of "separating the revolution from power." Gaddafi himself, being the "leader of the revolution," does not hold state positions.
The Charter of Revolutionary Legitimacy adopted at the GPC session in March 1990 proclaims that the source of the legitimacy of the people's assemblies and people's committees is "the revolutionary legitimacy of the leader of the Libyan revolution M. Gaddafi, inherent only to him and being an acquired right that cannot be taken away." The directives of the leader are mandatory for execution.
To control the activities of government bodies and the implementation of leadership decisions, as well as to combat opposition, revolutionary committees have been created, subordinate directly to M. Gaddafi, and to protect against external threats, the so-called armed people's system has been established.
Libya is one of the oldest centers of human civilization, a witness to Egyptian, Phoenician-Carthaginian, Greek, Byzantine, and Roman cultures. From the mid-7th century, Arab tribes began to settle here. In the Middle Ages, Libya became the object of expansion by the Crusaders, Normans, and Spaniards; in the 16th century, it was captured by the Turks and remained part of the Ottoman Empire until the early 20th century. The Italian occupation (since 1911) was replaced by Anglo-French military presence during World War II; at the same time, the USA gained the opportunity to establish an air base there.
On December 12, 1951, the establishment of an independent United Kingdom led by King Idris I was proclaimed. However, foreign military presence in Libya persisted, and the economic expansion of foreign capital expanded: in 1961, almost the entire territory of the country was granted under concessions to transnational oil companies on extremely favorable terms.
On September 1, 1969, as a result of a revolutionary uprising supported by the people, a group of young officers led by M. Gaddafi overthrew the monarchical regime and proclaimed the Libyan Arab Republic. The new leadership took decisive steps aimed at strengthening national sovereignty and independence; in 1970, Great Britain and the USA evacuated their military bases; the nationalization of foreign property was carried out, and control over oil production and distribution was established.
After the proclamation of SPLAJ in 1977, active measures were taken in the country to eliminate private capital from retail and wholesale trade and to abolish private ownership of real estate, dissolve the previous local administration, and significantly strengthen the role of new institutions in public life. The foreign policy course of Libya also underwent changes, with the tasks of spreading the ideas of M. Gaddafi, providing comprehensive assistance to revolutionary movements and regimes, and "countering imperialism and colonialism worldwide" taking precedence.
In the late 1980s, steps were taken towards liberalization in the economic and political spheres (encouraging cooperative forms of ownership, private trade, releasing political prisoners, allowing free entry and exit from the country). In June 1988, at the initiative of the leader of SPLAJ, an extraordinary session of the GPC proclaimed the "Green Declaration of Human Rights."
Libya is a member of the UN (since 1955), the AU (since 1963), and the Arab League (since 1953).
In March-April 1986, the USA, accusing Tripoli of supporting international terrorism, undertook military action against SPLAJ, launching missile and bombing strikes against the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, and Sirte. In November 1991, Great Britain, the USA, and France accused SPLAJ of the involvement of its citizens in the explosions of American ("Lockerbie case") and French ("UTA case") civilian airliners in 1988-89.
On November 21, 1992, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 731, calling on Libya to cooperate in investigating these incidents. On March 31, 1992, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 748, which imposed sanctions against Libya due to its failure to comply with the requirements of Resolution 731 (lowering the level of diplomatic representation, halting military-technical cooperation (MTC), and air communication). On November 11, 1993, Resolution 883 was adopted regarding additional economic sanctions against SPLAJ (freezing Libyan assets, banning the export to Libya of certain types of equipment for the oil industry, etc.). In 1994-98, these sanctions were repeatedly reaffirmed.
On August 27, 1998, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1192, stipulating that two Libyans suspected of organizing the explosion of the American airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 should appear before a visiting session of the Scottish court in the Netherlands. On January 31, 2001, the visiting session of the Scottish court found one of the accused in the "Lockerbie case," A. Megrahi, guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Subsequently, Libya pursued a policy aimed at lifting the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council in 1992-93, and in September 2003 reached an agreement with the USA to pay $2.7 billion in compensation to the relatives of those who died as a result of the explosion of the Pan Am flight, after which in September 2003, UN Security Council Resolution 1506 was adopted for the complete and final lifting of anti-Libyan sanctions.
The resolution of the disputes regarding the "Lockerbie" and "UTA" cases was complemented by significant steps taken by SPLAJ in the area of disarmament. Libya announced its abandonment of programs to create weapons of mass destruction and agreed to conduct international inspections at the relevant sites. In early 2004, several expert groups from the IAEA and specialists from the OPCW visited Libya. At the request of the USA, all prohibited materials and equipment were handed over to them, and information regarding their suppliers was disclosed. As part of disarmament initiatives, SPLAJ joined the CWC, ratified the NPT, signed an additional protocol to the IAEA Safeguards Agreement, and also committed to eliminate weapons covered by the CTBT, submitting an application to join this regime in December 2004. These steps, along with Tripoli's statements on non-support for terrorism and the declared course towards market reforms in the country, significantly changed the situation around Libya in terms of thawing and normalizing relations with the USA and the European Union. In September 2004, the USA lifted national trade and economic sanctions against Libya, and in October 2004, the European embargo on military-technical cooperation (the EU trade and economic sanctions had been lifted earlier) with Libya was lifted. By the end of 2005, only American sanctions remained in effect against SPLAJ, based on the list of countries designated by the US State Department as sponsors of international terrorism: a ban on MTC, tightening of export control procedures for the supply of dual-use technologies, and the prohibition of financial assistance from the US federal budget.
Libya is rich in natural resources. According to proven oil reserves (about 30 billion barrels), SPLAJ ranks first in Africa and fifth among OPEC member countries. Libya has large reserves of natural gas (1.67 trillion m³, third in Africa), iron ore, phosphates, and gypsum.
The backbone of the SPLAJ economy is the oil and gas industry. In the oil sector, 70% of GDP was created in 2004. The national oil corporation plans to increase production to 2 million barrels per day (1.6 million barrels per day in 2004), for which it is planned to modernize the industry and invest $30 billion in it by 2010. Libya has 5 oil refineries. The length of oil pipelines is 4,800 km, with a capacity of over 180 million tons per year. There are 2 asphalt plants in Zawiya and Benghazi. Since 1970, a gas liquefaction plant has been operating in Marsa al-Brega (capacity - 3.5 billion m³ per year). The length of gas pipelines is 2,000 km. The most important one (Brega - Misurata - Khoms) is 670 km long, with a capacity of 4.1 billion m³ per year. In 2004, an underwater gas pipeline was launched from Libyan territory to the island of Sicily (length - 600 km, capacity - 10 billion m³ per year).
There are cement plants in Derna and Zliten (capacity - 1 million tons per year each), an electric cable plant in Benghazi (3,500 tons per year), a plant for the production of cast iron pipes and fittings (23,000 tons per year), tractor and automobile assembly plants, a battery plant (228,000 tons per year), and a tire factory (450,000 sets). The light and food industries are poorly developed.
In agriculture, no more than 3.8 million hectares (2%) of the total area of the country is used. The main agricultural crops are grains (wheat), tobacco, peanuts, castor beans, esparto grass, olives, vegetables, citrus fruits, and melons. The share of livestock farming is about 50% of agricultural production volume. In 1984, the construction of the so-called Great Man-Made River (GMR) began. In 1993, water from underground sources in desert areas reached Benghazi, and in 1996 - Tripoli. Upon completion of all stages of the GMR project, it is planned to pump 6 million m³ of water per day.
The dominant position in SPLAJ's foreign trade (trade turnover in 2004 amounted to $26.3 billion) is held by countries of Southern Europe (Italy, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, France), being the main importers of Libyan oil (up to 90%) and exporters of goods to Libya (oil and electrical equipment, cars, machinery, building materials, consumer goods, and chemical raw materials).
The monetary and financial situation of SPLAJ is quite stable. Thanks to high oil prices, SPLAJ's gold and foreign exchange reserves reached $24 billion in 2004. At the same time, the country managed to reduce its external debt to $4 billion after settling debts with Germany, Great Britain, and Italy. GDP growth in 2004 was 4.9%, with an absolute volume of $35.8 billion.
In 2003, the SPLAJ government announced a course towards moderate liberalization of the economy and the development of small and medium-sized businesses while maintaining state control over key sectors. Privatization of wholesale and retail trade is underway, a law on the establishment of private banks has been adopted, the so-called people's joint-stock banks are being created in the regions, and business activity in agriculture, services, and light industry is developing. In 2004, the privatization of 360 industrial enterprises began. The country's leadership plans to attract investments of $40 billion over the next 20 years for the development of the private sector, primarily tourism.
The total length of paved roads is over 28,000 km.
The largest modern highway (1882 km) runs along the Mediterranean coast from the border with Tunisia to the border with Egypt. There are no railways. The airline "Libyan Arab Airlines," operating since 1965, primarily conducts regular flights within the country. After the lifting of UN sanctions, air communication was established with several European, African, and Arab countries. The largest civil airports are in Tripoli, Benghazi, Sebha, and Ghadames. The annual capacity of Libyan seaports is about 80 million tons.
Education in the country is free at all levels, compulsory until the 9th grade. Libya has 10 universities, 17 higher education institutions, and 14 research centers.
Mass media are nationalized. The official news agency of the Jamahiriya - JANA publishes daily newspapers "Al-Fajr al-Jadid" (40,000 copies), "Az-Zahf al-Akhdar," "Ash-Shams," and there are about 20 printed publications. Broadcasting is carried out on two channels (television stations in Tripoli and Benghazi). Broadcasting corporation branches are located in all major cities.