Background: Since he took power in a 1969 military coup, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI has espoused his own political system - a combination of socialism and Islam - which he calls the Third International Theory. Viewing himself as a revolutionary leader, he used oil funds during the 1970s and 1980s to promote his ideology outside Libya, even supporting subversives and terrorists abroad to hasten the end of Marxism and capitalism. Libyan military adventures failed, e.g., the prolonged foray of Libyan troops into the Aozou Strip in northern Chad was finally repulsed in 1987. Libyan support for terrorism decreased after UN sanctions were imposed in 1992. Those sanctions were suspended in April 1999.
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 water: 0 sq km land: 1,759,540 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