The foreign relations of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi (1969–2011) underwent much fluctuation and change. They were marked by severe tension with the West and by other national policies in the Middle East and Africa, including the Libyan government's financial and military support for numerous paramilitary and rebel groups.
Shukri Mohammed Ghanem was a Libyan politician who was the General Secretary of the General People's Committee of Libya from June 2003 until March 2006 when, in the first major government reshuffle in over a decade, he was replaced by his deputy, Baghdadi Mahmudi. Ghanem subsequently served as the Minister of Oil until 2011. On 29 April 2012, his body was found floating on the New Danube, Vienna.
The national flag of Libya was originally introduced in 1951, following the creation of the Kingdom of Libya. It was designed by Omar Faiek Shennib and approved by King Idris Al Senussi who comprised the UN delegation representing the three regions of Cyrenaica, Fezzan, and Tripolitania at UN unification discussions.
The murder of Yvonne Fletcher, a Metropolitan Police officer, occurred on 17 April 1984, when she was fatally wounded by a shot fired from the Libyan embassy on St James's Square, London, by an unknown gunman. Fletcher had been deployed to monitor a demonstration against the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and died shortly afterwards. Her death resulted in an eleven-day siege of the embassy, at the end of which those inside were expelled from the country and the United Kingdom severed diplomatic relations with Libya.
A diplomatic bag, also known as a diplomatic pouch, is a container with certain legal protections used for carrying official correspondence or other items between a diplomatic mission and its home government or other diplomatic, consular, or otherwise official entity. The physical concept of a "diplomatic bag" is flexible and it can take many forms.
The Police Memorial Trust is a charitable organisation founded in 1984 and based in London. The trust's objective is to erect memorials to British police officers killed in the line of duty, at or near the spot where they died, thereby acting as a permanent reminder to the public of the sacrifice they made.
The National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL) was a political opposition group active during the rule of the Gaddafi regime in Libya. It was formed in 1981 and called for major liberalising reforms such as democratic elections, a free press, and the separation of powers. During the 1980s, it pursued a campaign of armed opposition to the Gaddafi regime and made several coup attempts, the most notable being its 1984 armed assault on Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizia compound in Tripoli. After the failure of this and several other coup attempts the group largely abandoned militancy, and instead used peaceful tactics to promote reform in Libya; in 2005, the NFSL joined with six other groups to form the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition.
Libya–United States relations are the bilateral relations between the State of Libya and the United States of America. Relations are today cordial and cooperative, with particularly strong security cooperation only after the 2012 attack on the US liaison office or mission in Benghazi. Furthermore, a Gallup poll conducted in March and April 2012 found that Libyans had "among the highest approval" of US leadership in the entire Middle East and North Africa region.
Lybia and Serbia maintain diplomatic relations established between Angola and SFR Yugoslavia in 1955, following Lybia's independence. Libya has an embassy in Belgrade and Serbia has an embassy in Tripoli.
Belarus and Libya established diplomatic relations in 1992. Belarus has an embassy in Tripoli. Libya has an embassy in Minsk.
These are some of the notable events relating to politics in 2011.
Relations between Libya and the United Kingdom were initially close and positive after the British Armed Forces helped rebel forces to topple Muammar Gaddafi's regime in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. British officials have visited Libya several times since then, including two visits by Prime Minister David Cameron when large crowds turned out to welcome him. The British Armed Forces are also helping to train Libya's National Army as part of wider cooperation on security matters. Security conditions have deteriorated since 2014, when the United Kingdom suspended operations from their embassy in Tripoli, into a second civil war. In June 2022, the United Kingdom re-opened its embassy in Tripoli.
Saif al-Arab Gaddafi was the sixth son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. From around 2006 to 2010, Saif al-Arab spent much of his time in Munich. On 30 April 2011, the Libyan government reported that Saif al-Arab and three of his young nieces and nephews were killed by a NATO airstrike on his house during the Libyan Civil War. During the beginning of the uprising, Saif al-Arab was put in charge of military forces by his father in order to put down protests in Benghazi. Saif al-Arab was viewed as the most low-profile of Gaddafi's eight children.
Omar Ahmed Sodani was "a prominent figure in Muammar Gaddafi's regime" suspected of having murdered PC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.
Dr. Abdulqadir Mohammed al-Baghdadi was Secretary General of the People's Committee for Education of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi. He chaired the oil and gas council and the Libya Investment Authority. He also served as the head liaison of Revolutionary Committees. He was part of Gaddafi's inner circle. After the outbreak of the First Libyan Civil War, he was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council.
The Libyan hostage situation began on the morning of the murder of police constable Fletcher, 17 April 1984 and lasted until 5 February 1985. In accordance with the hostage release agreement, reporting on the incident was restricted until the fall of Gaddafi in 2011.
Mohamed Ben Ghalbon is the founder and chairman of the Libyan Constitutional Union, and one of Colonel Gaddafi’s staunchest political opponents in exile. He is the leading advocate for the call for adherence to constitutional legitimacy in confronting the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.
Hisham Ben Ghalbon is a founding member and spokesman for Libyan Constitutional Union (LCU) and was an opponent of the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi since the mid 1970s when Ben Ghalbon was a student at the faculty of Engineering in the University of Tripoli.
Al-Burkan was a Libyan dissident terrorist group opposed to the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, that claimed responsibility for several political assassinations and attacks in Europe during the 1980's. A leader of Al-Burkan, Ragab Mabruk Zatout claimed to have personally met Oliver North and received support from US intelligence.
Lebanon–Libya relations are the diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Libya. Both sovereign states are members of the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Libya has an embassy in Beirut and Lebanon has an embassy in Tripoli. Relations between the two countries have been tense, particularly with the Lebanese Shia Amal Movement due to the kidnapping of imam Musa al-Sadr in Libya in 1978 during the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.
