VARIOUS FILE: The Arab world's longest serving leader flamboyant Muammar Gaddafi feels ripples of change

Record ID: 836705
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  • Title: VARIOUS FILE: The Arab world's longest serving leader flamboyant Muammar Gaddafi feels ripples of change
  • Date: 19th February 2011
  • Summary: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, LIBYA (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (MONO/MUTE) (REUTERS) LIBYAN KING IDRIS SITTING ON HIS THRONE
  • Embargoed: 6th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Libya, United Kingdom
  • City:
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8KXJXDQBWOBBDMA78E1YJCDMT
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The Arab worlds' longest serving leader Muammar Gaddafi has maintained tight control in Libya by clamping down on dissidents but his oil-producing nation is now beginning to feel the wind of change that is blowing across the Arab world.
    Anti-Gaddafi protesters clashed with police and government supporters in the eastern city of Benghazi, and Human Rights Watch reported that at least 24 people had died in two days of unrest this week.
    Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was born in 1942 in the coastal area of Sirte to nomadic parents. He went to school at Sebha, then to Benghazi University to study geography, but dropped out to join the army.
    Gaddafi first entered the world stage in September 1969 when he led junior army officers in toppling King Idris in a bloodless military coup. The ageing king had ruled the former Italian colony since independence was gained in 1951.
    Gaddafi oversaw the rapid development of his poverty-stricken country, formulating his "Third Universal Theory," a middle road between communism and capitalism.
    One of his first tasks was to build up the armed forces, but he also spent billions of dollars of oil income on improving living standards, making him popular with the poor.
    Inspired by Arab nationalist sentiments Gaddafi abandoned ties with Western powers and pursued aims of uniting Arab countries. He instigated the Arab Federation with Syria and Egypt in April 1971 which soon broke down in argument and recrimination. He played a prominent role in organising Arab opposition to the 1978 Camp David peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.
    Gaddafi's relations with the West, and in particular the United States, became increasingly strained during the early 1980's. He denied involvement in bankrolling hijacks, assassinations and revolutions while insisting on his right to support national liberation movements.
    Accusations that Gaddafi sent agents to blow up a Berlin club frequented by United States marines in 1986 led to U.S. air raids on Tripoli and Benghazi just days later. Gaddafi's home in the Aziziya barracks was hit and his adopted daughter killed.
    Gaddafi designed a political system of local congresses where people were allowed to air their views and appoint representatives to the General People's Congress. In theory the People's Congresses hold legislative and executive power but critics dismiss them as dedicated to maintaining power and wealth in the hands of Gaddafi and his entourage.
    Gaddafi has poured money into giant projects such as the Great Man-Made River, a scheme to pipe water from desert wells to coastal communities. The project, which Gaddafi has described as the eighth wonder of the world, is estimated to have cost 20 billion U.S. dollars.
    When Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over the Scottish village of Lockerbie in December 1988, killing two hundred and seventy people, Western intelligence agencies were quick to point the finger of blame at the Gaddafi regime .
    United Nations Security Council sanctions, imposed in 1992 and strengthened in 1993, crippled Libya's economy but did not appear to dampen Gaddafi's revolutionary spirit and his anti-capitalist, anti-Western rhetoric.
    Former South African President Nelson Mandela played a key role in persuading Gaddafi to surrender two Libyan nationals suspected of involvement in the bombing.
    Abdel-Basset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima stood trial in a specially convened Scottish court at a former United States base in the Netherlands. Megrahi was found guilty of mass murder and given a 27 year prison sentence, Fahima was acquitted and set free. Libya subsequently agreed to accept civil responsibility for both the Lockerbie bombing and the bombing of a French UTA airliner over Niger in 1989, and to pay compensation to relatives of the victims.
    Visionary or dictator, Gaddafi's quirky style is unique. He lives in a run-down army barracks in Tripoli or camps Bedouin-style, often taking his tent with him on trips abroad. He once pitched it inside Cairo's presidential compound. Ignoring the traditions of his conservative society, he surrounds himself with women bodyguards toting assault rifles.
    Regarded as a maverick in the Arab world, Gaddafi has frequently criticised Arab leaders and institutions. A row erupted at an Arab League summit in March 2003 when Gaddafi criticised Saudi Arabia for hosting thousands of U.S. troops since the 1991 Gulf War. Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah angrily interrupted Gaddafi saying "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not a slave to imperialism like you or others. Who brought you to power?" before walking out of the meeting.
    Gaddafi has often disconcerted both friends and foes with swings in foreign policy. He caught the world by surprise in December 2003 when Tripoli announced it would abandon its weapons of mass destruction programmes and agreed to short-notice checks of its nuclear sites by U.N. nuclear inspectors.
    The announcement drew swift praise from London and Washington and an end to international isolation. British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Gaddafi in Tripoli in March 2004 and over the next two years the United States ended a broad trade embargo, removed Libya from a list of state sponsors of terrorism and resumed full diplomatic relations.
    In September 2008 Condoleezza Rice met Gaddafi in Tripoli, the first visit by a U.S. Secretary of State to Libya since 1953.
    In June 2009 Gaddafi arrived in Rome for a four day visit, his first trip to Libya's former colonial ruler. Wearing a picture of hanged resistance hero Omar Al-Mukhtar pinned to his military uniform, Gaddafi was welcomed by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and given a red carpet reception.
    With four decades in power Gaddafi now holds the mantle as Africa's longest serving leader. At the age of 67 he is a relative youngster compared to other veteran African leaders and is keeping the world guessing as to who might succeed him. Gaddafi's second eldest liberal-leaning son Saif al-Islam was seen as the most likely successor until he announced in August 2008 that he was withdrawing from his political role.
    Saif al-Islam's younger brother Mutassim has gained the support of powerful establishment figures in Libya by appealing to their conservative instincts, improving his prospects of taking over from his father. The publicity-shy Mutassim made an official visit to the United States in April as Libya's national security adviser and met Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the State Department.
    In 2009 in his first visit to the U.S. since he taking power 40 years ago, Gaddafi addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York, following U.S. President Barack Obama. In his speech, Gaddafi accused major powers on the U.N.'s Security Council of betraying the principles of the U.N. charter. He also condemned the veto power held by the five permanent members of the council.
    "The Security Council is security feudalism, political feudalism for those who have permanent seats. They are used against us. It should not be called the Security Council it should be called the Terror Council," he said.
    Gaddafi's long rambling speech clocked in at 1 hour and 35 minutes and touched on topics as varied on vaccinations for children to the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
    Gaddafi holds no official state position and is known simply as "Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution".
    Last month Gaddafi said he feared the change of power in neighbouring Tunisia was being exploited by foreign intervention.
    Gaddafi said he was "pained" by the violent events in Tunisia and that people there had been too hasty in pushing out President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
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