Libya

Publication Date: June 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

Type:

Abstract:

The United Nations Security Council passed three resolutions that placed sanctions on Libya until Libya surrendered for trial two men suspected of bombing Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 and French flight UTA 772 in 1989. Libya surrendered the two men on April 5, 1999, and the U.N. suspended the sanctions the same day. U.S. sanctions against Libya were dropped in 2004 except for sanctions associated with the state sponsors of terrorism list.

Over the last three decades, Libyan-U.S. relations have been plagued by a series of incidents between U.S. and Libyan armed forces, Libyan policies of supporting terrorism, Libya's now abandoned pursuit of chemical and nuclear weapons, and Libyan meddling in other nations' internal affairs. In the past, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Al Qadhafi has proposed bilateral and multilateral unions with his neighbors and several other countries, and envisioned himself as carrying on for Egypt's Gamel Adbel Nasser in unifying the Arab, Islamic, and African worlds.

Colonel Al Qadhafi has implemented a form of participatory democracy in Libya, where villages elect Peoples' Congresses, which in turn elect Peoples' Congresses for geographic regions and the central government. In addition, there are Peoples' Congresses representing industries or institutions, such as education, medicine, or broadcasting. Despite the presence and apparent activity of the Peoples' Congresses, it is clear that members of the Revolutionary Command Council, created after the 1969 coup, and their cohort continue to exercise great influence, perhaps dictatorial authority, over Libya.

Libya's economy depends upon oil. Current oil production is running at 1.4 million barrels per day of high quality crude, most of which is exported to Western Europe.

About 1% of Libya's land is arable, and soil quality is poor. Libya imports 75% of its food. The Great Man-made River project, started in 1983 and inaugurated in 1991, pipes Saharan aquifer water to the coastal region to expand Libya's agriculture base. Libya enjoys a favorable balance of trade and payments, and runs a small budget deficit.

Al Qadhafi has used his military in a 1977 border dispute with Egypt, in 1972 and 1978 attempts to buttress Idi Amin in Uganda, in several attempts to influence events in Chad, and in a token deployment in Lebanon.

Current issues in U.S.-Libyan relations include negotiations regarding Libya's continued inclusion on the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list and the final payment of the Pan Am flight 103 settlement. A number of U.S. oil and oil services companies are currently bidding for reentry into Libyan oil fields along with their European and Asian counterparts. In the 109th Congress, Section 207 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for FY2006-2007 (H.R. 2601) would repeal a provision of the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-399) that makes entities doing business with Libya ineligible for federal contracts.