and visionary leader. He used oil funds during the
1970s and 1980s to promote his ideology outside Libya, supporting
subversives and terrorists abroad to hasten the end of Marxism and
capitalism. In addition, beginning in 1973, he engaged in military
operations in northern Chad's Aozou Strip - to gain access to
minerals and to use as a base of influence in Chadian politics - but
was forced to retreat in 1987. UN sanctions in 1992 isolated QADHAFI
politically following the downing of Pan AM Flight 103 over
Lockerbie, Scotland. During the 1990s, QADHAFI began to rebuild his
relationships with Europe. UN sanctions were suspended in April 1999
and finally lifted in September 2003 after Libya accepted
responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing. In December 2003, Libya
announced that it had agreed to reveal and end its programs to
develop weapons of mass destruction and to renounce terrorism.
QADHAFI has made significant strides in normalizing relations with
Western nations since then. He has received various Western European
leaders as well as many working-level and commercial delegations,
and made his first trip to Western Europe in 15 years when he
traveled to Brussels in April 2004. Libya has responded in good
faith to legal cases brought against it in US courts for terrorist
acts that predate its renunciation of violence. Claims for
compensation in the Lockerbie bombing, LaBelle disco bombing, and
UTA 772 bombing cases are ongoing. The US rescinded Libya's
designation as a state sponsor of terrorism in June 2006. In late
2007, Libya was elected by the General Assembly to a nonpermanent
seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2008-09 term.

Geography
Libya

Location:

Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and
Tunisia

Geographic coordinates:

25 00 N, 17 00 E

Map references:

Africa

Area:

total: 1,759,540 sq km
land: 1,759,540 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly larger than Alaska

Land boundaries:

total: 4,348 km
border countries: Algeria 982 km, Chad 1,055 km, Egypt 1,115 km,
Niger 354 km, Sudan 383 km, Tunisia 459 km

Coastline:

1,770 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
note: Gulf of Sidra closing line - 32 degrees, 30 minutes north
exclusive fishing zone: 62 nm

Climate:

Mediterranean along coast; dry, extreme desert interior

Terrain:

mostly barren, flat to undulating plains, plateaus, de