y 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. Libyan support for terrorism appeared
to have decreased after the imposition of sanctions. During the
1990s, QADHAFI also began to rebuild his relationships with Europe.
UN sanctions were suspended in April 1999 and finally lifted in
September 2003 after Libya resolved the Lockerbie case. In December
2003, Libya announced that it had agreed to reveal and end its
programs to develop weapons of mass destruction, and 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. QADHAFI also resolved in 2004 some of the
outstanding cases against his government for terrorist activities in
the 1980s by compensating some families of victims of the Pan Am
103, French airliner UTA, and La Belle disco bombings. The US
resumed full diplomatic relations with Libya in May 2006 and
rescinded Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism in
June.

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, depressions

E