Map Credit: U.S. State DepartmentFROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
U.S. Government Assistance to Libya
Fact Sheet
Office of the Special Coordinator for Middle East Transitions
Washington, DC
July 20, 2012
The United States has a strategic interest in a stable and prosperous Libya, and is supporting Libya’s democratic transition in cooperation with the UN and other international partners. Recognizing Libya’s own substantial resources, the United States has focused on building Libyan institutions and increasing its capacity to govern effectively, hold free and fair elections, and manage public finances transparently and responsibly. We have also provided targeted assistance to support the development of Libyan civil society and its security forces. Investing modestly in Libya’s future will help further advance Libya’s democratic transition, promote stability, and strengthen the U.S.-Libya partnership.
The majority of the $170 million in U.S. assistance to Libya was provided to respond to urgent humanitarian and security challenges in the immediate aftermath of the conflict. Additional assistance is focused on supporting capacity building efforts within government institutions, developing civil society, and facilitating free and fair elections. All programs advance key U.S. interests by filling critical capacity gaps within U.S.-Libya identified transition priorities. All projects are being coordinated with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
The United States has also resumed a full range of people-to-people programming and exchanges, to include scholarships, fellowships, English-language education, educational advising, cultural preservation, and short term visits and training in the United States.
Democracy, Governance, Rule Of Law, Human Rights
Election Management and Administration: The United States provided technical assistance and support for election management and administration, including developing legal electoral frameworks, creating a voter registry, and strengthening the election management body, all in close cooperation with the GOL, the EU and the UN.
Independent Media: The United States is working to strengthen local and independent media, and to provide training that improves journalistic standards and enhances the ability of Libyan media to report on the activities of government.
Elections Monitoring: The United States contributed support to an international elections observation mission to help ensure electoral transparency and credibility during Libya’s first national elections. The U.S. also provided technical assistance to a network of Libyan partners to organize nationwide domestic elections monitoring efforts.
Political Party Development and Voter Outreach: The United States is providing technical assistance to new political parties as they work to develop the platforms, messages, and core skills needed to effectively participate in public discussion and debate. The United States is also supporting civil society efforts to launch country-wide civic and voter education initiatives.
Supporting the New Legislature: The United States is providing technical assistance to the new National Congress, including on committee structures, procedures, hiring and training qualified staff, and developing outreach mechanisms for engaging the public, particularly around a participatory constitutional drafting process.
Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration: The United States is assisting the Government of Libya in navigating the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of militia members. Together, the civilian and military elements of the U.S. government are working with the Government of Libya to help them formulate this critical area of programming.
Justice and Security Sector: The United States is working with Libyan authorities to develop ways to support the delivery of justice and security in a manner that promotes democratic values now and as constitutionally determined structures build themselves.
Transitional Justice: Additionally, the United States is supporting the UN Commission of Inquiry's ability to catalogue its documentation of human rights abuses, and is also exploring potential civil society-based transitional justice programming.
NGO Development: The United States is providing technical assistance to NGOs throughout Libya to bolster their administrative, financial, and programmatic capacities. This includes bolstering the ability of local bar associations and advocacy groups to advocate for rule of law reform during the democratic transition.
Forensics and Mass Graves: The United States is providing forensic technical assistance, including mapping human rights and international humanitarian law abuses and preserving evidence by: mapping the number and extent of mass graves; providing technical expertise on forensic-based exhumations; providing training and capacity building to civil society organizations on human rights documentation practices and the use of forensic evidence; and engaging and empowering victims’ groups and families of the missing to ensure that they are a supportive part of the transitional justice process.
Economic Revitalization
Public Financial Management: The United States is providing targeted technical assistance to the Government of Libya to promote financial transparency and improve governance of Libya’s financial and economic resources.
Economic Growth and Trade Facilitation: The United States is providing technical advice to the Government of Libya on public infrastructure-related projects and facilitates meetings with US businesses who can source services and equipment for reconstruction.
Africa Diaspora Marketplace: The United States recently added Libya to the African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM) initiative. This public-private partnership encourages sustainable economic growth and employment by supporting U.S.-based diaspora entrepreneurs with startups and established businesses on the African continent.
Women’s Economic Empowerment: U.S. assistance is bolstering economic empowerment opportunities for women by providing business skills and subject matter expert? development training activities to women and key actors in the business community.
Security Assistance
Presidential Drawdown Authority for Non-Lethal Equipment: The United States has provided non-lethal assistance, including personnel protective gear, uniforms, and halal MREs, to Government security forces through the Presidential drawdown authority.
Conventional Weapons Destruction: The United States is supporting international mine action NGOs to clear unexploded ordnance and destroy unsecured conventional weapons, including man-portable air defense systems (MANPADs).
Weapons Abatement: The U.S. committed significant assistance for conventional weapons mitigation efforts, including the survey, inventory and disposal of known weapons and ammunition storage sites in Libya.
Border Security Training: The Export Control and Border Security (EXBS) program is resuming engagement with the Government of Libya (GOL) with targeted technical assistance focused on land border security. As part of an overall U.S. Government effort, EXBS developed an approved list of immediate deliverables for near term border security assistance
Ministry of Defense Advisory Support: The Department of Defense is providing advisory support through the Defense Institution Reform Initiative (DIRI) to the Libyan Ministry of Defense to assist in the process of establishing defense institutions and armed forces that are unified, capable, and subject to civilian control and the rule of law. This effort supports other USG and international initiatives aimed at broader security sector reform.
Chemical weapons security and destruction: The United States has provided support for improving the near-term security of Libya’s chemical weapons and is working closely with the Libyan authorities to facilitate the eventual destruction of these weapons with the oversight of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons..
Health
Support for the War Wounded: The United States facilitated collaboration between the Government of Libya and U.S. hospitals to provide advanced medical treatment to those warriors who were severely injured in combat. The U.S. is further building this cooperation to assist the GOL in upgrading the capabilities of the Libyan health care system and promoting merit-based scholarships and exchange programs for those in the medical field to study in the United States.
Humanitarian Assistance
Refugee and IDP Relief: In the immediate aftermath of the revolution the United States provided humanitarian assistance to international organizations and NGOs aiding internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrants in Libya and neighboring countries through health, humanitarian protection, logistics, water, sanitation, and hygiene activities, as well as the distribution of emergency relief supplies and food assistance.
People-to-People Exchanges
Higher Education Task Force: In May 2012, the United States and Libya launched the U.S.-Libya Higher Education Task Force to expand educational exchanges and cooperation.
Fulbright: Libyan students who were scheduled to participate in the Fulbright program prior to the revolution have had their candidacies restored. In the 2012-2013 academic year, Libya will send 14 Fulbright students to the United States—double the size of the previous cohort. Approximately 1,700 Libyans submitted applications for the 14 grants.-
Educational Advising: EducationUSA is expanding its virtual and on-the-ground presence to provide educational advising to Libyan students interested in studying in the United States.
English Language: The English Access Microscholarship Program has three active programs in Libya—one in Tripoli and two in Benghazi—with a total of 80 Libyan students ages 14-18. Embassy Tripoli is currently exploring partnerships to further expand the Access Program, as well as other means of meeting the substantial nationwide demand for classes in English as a second language.
Cultural Preservation: The United States is providing resources toward a partnership between Oberlin College and the Libyan Department of Antiquities to document and preserve endangered archaeological sites
International Visitor Leadership Programs (IVLP): Approximately 30 Libyan government officials, youth and civil society representatives, women leaders, and journalists will participate in three-week professional development IVLPs during the FY 2012 fiscal year.
Youth Leadership Program: Libyan high school students will join participants from Egypt and Tunisia for a three-week leadership and cross-cultural exchange in the United States in August 2012.
PROFILE Geography
Location: North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, southern border with Chad, Niger, and Sudan.
Area: 1,759,540 sq. km.
Cities: Tripoli (capital), Benghazi.
Terrain: Mostly barren, flat to undulating plains, plateaus, depressions.
Climate: Mediterranean along coast; dry, extreme desert interior.
Land use: Arable land--1.03%; permanent crops--0.19%; other--98.78%.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Libyan(s).
Population (July 2010 est.): 6,461,454.
Annual population growth rate (2010 est.): 2.117%. Birth rate (2010 est.)--24.58 births/1,000 population. Death rate (2010 est.)--3.45 deaths/1,000 population.
Ethnic groups: Berber and Arab 97%; other 3% (includes Greeks, Maltese, Italians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Turks, Indians, and Tunisians).
Religion: Sunni Muslim 97%, other 3%.
Languages: Arabic is the primary language. English and Italian are understood in major cities.
Education: Years compulsory--9. Attendance--90%. Literacy (age 15 and over who can read and write)--total population 82.6%; male 92.4%; female 72% (2003 est.).
Health (2010 est.): Infant mortality rate--20.87 deaths/1,000 live births. Life expectancy--total population 77.47 years; male 75.18 years; female 79.88 years.
Work force (2010 est.): 1.686 million.
Government
Official name: Libya.
Type: Transitional National Council (interim, appointed government).
Independence: Libya declared independence on December 24, 1951.
Revolution Day: February 17, 2011.
Constitution: The Transitional National Council (TNC) released a constitutional document in August 2011 describing its plans for a democratic transition.
Administrative divisions: Local affairs are currently being managed by local municipal councils. It is not clear whether the Qadhafi-era "shabiya" system of 32 municipalities will be maintained consisting of: Butnan, Darnah, Gubba, al-Jebal al-Akhdar, Marj, al-Jebal al-Hezam, Benghazi, Ajdabiya, Wahat, Kufra, Surt, Al Jufrah, Misurata, Murgub, Bani-Walid, Tarhuna and Msallata, Tripoli, Jfara, Zawiya, Sabratha and Surman, An Nuqat al-Khams, Gharyan, Mezda, Nalut, Ghadames, Yefren, Wadi Alhaya, Ghat, Sabha, Wadi Shati, Murzuq, Tajura and an-Nuwaha al-Arba'a.
Major political parties: The Political Party Law has not yet been passed.
Suffrage: 18 years of age per the Election Law passed February 7, 2012.
Economy
Real GDP (2010 est.): $92.62 billion.
GDP per capita (PPP, 2010 est.): $14,100.
Real GDP growth rate (2010 est.): 4.2%.
Natural resources: Petroleum, natural gas, gypsum.
Agriculture: Products--wheat, barley, olives, dates, citrus, vegetables, peanuts, soybeans; cattle; approximately 75% of Libya's food is imported.
Industry: Types--petroleum, food processing, textiles, handicrafts, cement.
Trade: Exports (2011 est.)--$12.93 billion: crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas, chemicals. Major markets (2010 est.)--Italy (31.6%), France (13%), China (9.2%), Spain (9.1%), Germany (8.4%), U.S. (4.5%). Imports (2011 est.)--$14.1 billion: machinery, transport equipment, food, manufactured goods, consumer products, semi-finished goods. Major suppliers (2010)--Italy (16.3%), China (10.3%), Turkey (9.7%), France (6.8%), Germany (6.4%), Tunisia (4.8%).
PEOPLE
Libya has a small population in a large land area. Population density is about 50 persons per sq. km. (80/sq. mi.) in the two northern regions of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, but falls to less than one person per sq. km. (1.6/sq. mi.) elsewhere. Ninety percent of the people live in less than 10% of the area, primarily along the coast. More than half the population is urban, mostly concentrated in the two largest cities, Tripoli and Benghazi. Thirty-three percent of the population is estimated to be under age 15.
Native Libyans are primarily a mixture of Arabs and Berbers. Small Tebou and Tuareg tribal groups in southern Libya are nomadic or semi-nomadic. Among foreign residents, the largest groups are citizens of other African nations, including North Africans (primarily Egyptians and Tunisians), West Africans, and other Sub-Saharan Africans.
HISTORY
For most of their history, the peoples of Libya have been subjected to varying degrees of foreign control. The Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines ruled all or parts of Libya. Although the Greeks and Romans left impressive ruins at Cyrene, Leptis Magna, and Sabratha, little else remains today to testify to the presence of these ancient cultures.
The Arabs conquered Libya in the seventh century A.D. In the following centuries, most of the indigenous peoples adopted Islam and the Arabic language and culture. The Ottoman Turks conquered the country in the mid-16th century. Libya remained part of their empire, although at times virtually autonomous, until Italy invaded in 1911 and, in the face of years of resistance, made Libya a colony.
In 1934, Italy adopted the name "Libya" (used by the Greeks for all of North Africa, except Egypt) as the official name of the colony, which consisted of the Provinces of Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan. King Idris I, Emir of Cyrenaica, led Libyan resistance to Italian occupation between the two world wars. Allied forces removed Axis powers from Libya in February 1943. Tripolitania and Cyrenaica came under separate British administration, while the French controlled Fezzan. In 1944, Idris returned from exile in Cairo but declined to resume permanent residence in Cyrenaica until the removal in 1947 of some aspects of foreign control. Under the terms of the 1947 peace treaty with the Allies, Italy relinquished all claims to Libya.
On November 21, 1949, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution stating that Libya should become independent before January 1, 1952. King Idris I represented Libya in the subsequent UN negotiations. When Libya declared its independence on December 24, 1951, it was the first country to achieve independence through the United Nations and one of the first former European possessions in Africa to gain independence. Libya was proclaimed a constitutional and a hereditary monarchy under King Idris.
The discovery of significant oil reserves in 1959 and the subsequent income from petroleum sales enabled what had been one of the world's poorest countries to become extremely wealthy, as measured by per capita GDP. Although oil drastically improved Libya's finances, popular resentment grew as wealth was increasingly concentrated in the hands of the elite. This discontent continued to mount with the rise throughout the Arab world of Nasserism and the idea of Arab unity.
On September 1, 1969, a small group of military officers led by then 28-year-old army officer Mu'ammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi staged a coup d'etat against King Idris, who was subsequently exiled to Egypt. The new regime, headed by the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), abolished the monarchy and proclaimed the new Libyan Arab Republic. Qadhafi emerged as leader of the RCC and eventually as de facto head of state, a political role he played until the February 17, 2011 uprising. The Libyan Government asserted that Qadhafi held no official position, although he was referred to in government statements and the official press as the "Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution," among other honorifics.
An early objective of the Qadhafi regime was withdrawal of all foreign military installations from Libya. Following negotiations, British military installations at Tobruk and nearby El Adem were closed in March 1970, and U.S. facilities at Wheelus Air Force Base near Tripoli were closed in June 1970. That July, the Libyan Government ordered the expulsion of several thousand Italian residents. By 1971, libraries and cultural centers operated by foreign governments were ordered closed.
In the 1970s, Libya claimed leadership of Arab and African revolutionary forces and sought active roles in international organizations. Late in the 1970s, Libyan embassies were re-designated as "people's bureaus," as Qadhafi sought to portray Libyan foreign policy as an expression of the popular will. The people's bureaus, aided by Libyan religious, political, educational, and business institutions overseas, attempted to export Qadhafi's revolutionary philosophy abroad.
Qadhafi's confrontational foreign policies and use of terrorism, as well as Libya's growing friendship with the U.S.S.R., led to increased tensions with the West in the 1980s. Following a terrorist bombing at a discotheque in West Berlin frequented by American military personnel, in 1986 the U.S. retaliated militarily against targets in Libya, and imposed broad unilateral economic sanctions.
After Libya was implicated in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, UN sanctions were imposed in 1992. UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) passed in 1992 and 1993 obliged Libya to fulfill requirements related to the Pan Am 103 bombing before sanctions could be lifted. Qadhafi initially refused to comply with these requirements, leading to Libya's political and economic isolation for most of the 1990s.
In 1999, Libya fulfilled one of the UNSCR requirements by surrendering two Libyans who were suspected to have been involved with the bombing for trial before a Scottish court in the Netherlands. One of these suspects, Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, was found guilty; the other was acquitted. Al-Megrahi's conviction was upheld on appeal in 2002. On August 19, 2009, al-Megrahi was released from Scottish prison on compassionate grounds due to a terminal illness and returned to Libya. In August 2003, Libya fulfilled the remaining UNSCR requirements, including acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials and payment of appropriate compensation to the victims' families. UN sanctions were lifted on September 12, 2003. U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)-based sanctions were lifted September 20, 2004.
On December 19, 2003, Libya publicly announced its intention to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)-class missile programs. Subsequently, Libya cooperated with the U.S., the U.K., the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons toward these objectives. Libya has also signed the IAEA Additional Protocol and has become a State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention. These were important steps toward full diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Libya.
Nationwide political violence erupted in February 2011, following the Libyan Government’s brutal suppression of popular protests against Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi. Opposition forces quickly seized control of Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, as well as significant portions of eastern Libya and some areas in western Libya. Drawing from the local opposition councils which formed the backbone of the "February 17" revolution, the Libyan opposition announced the formation of a Transitional National Council (TNC) on February 27, 2011. The Council stated its desire to remove Qadhafi from power and establish a unified, democratic, and free Libya that respects universal human rights principles.
On October 23, 2011, 3 days after Qadhafi’s death, the TNC officially declared Libya liberated. The TNC subsequently moved from Benghazi to Tripoli and formed a transitional government (i.e., an executive branch). On February 7, 2012, it approved an election law, and the Supreme Election Commission has started preparing for June elections for the General National Conference, to consist of 200 elected representatives.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS
The TNC released a constitutional document in August 2011 describing its plans for a democratic transition. The release helped address concerns about the TNC’s authority as an unelected organization and tied the beginning of the transition in February 2011 to the official declaration of liberation in October 2011. The constitutional declaration is divided into five chapters, with 37 articles, and addresses (1) general national principles; (2) rights and public freedoms; (3) transition to an interim government; (4) judicial guarantees; and (5) the status of existing laws. The document affirmed the TNC as the sole governing authority of Libya until the "announcement of liberation" and the formation of the executive branch, which took place in November 2011. The form of government and political conditions are still taking shape as the interim government works to pass a law governing political parties, form electoral districts, and register voters.
Qadhafi-Era Political System
The former system was in theory based on the political philosophy in Qadhafi's Green Book, which combined socialist and Islamic theories and rejects parliamentary democracy and political parties. In reality, Qadhafi exercised near-total control over major government decisions. During the first 7 years following the 1969 revolution, the Revolutionary Command Council, which included Colonel Qadhafi and 12 fellow army officers, began a complete overhaul of Libya's political system, society, and economy. In 1973, Qadhafi announced the start of a "cultural revolution" in schools, businesses, industries, and public institutions to oversee administration of those organizations in the public interest. On March 2, 1977, Qadhafi convened a General People's Congress (GPC) to proclaim the establishment of "people's power," change the country's name to the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and to vest, theoretically, primary authority in the GPC.
Qadhafi remained the de facto head of state and secretary general of the GPC until 1980, when he gave up his office. Although he held no formal office, Qadhafi monopolized power with the assistance of a small group of trusted advisers, who included relatives from his home base in the Sirte region, which lies between the traditional commercial and political power centers in Benghazi and Tripoli.
The Libyan court system is currently being reconstituted. Under the Qadhafi regime, it consisted of three levels: the courts of first instance; the courts of appeals; and the Supreme Court, which was the final appellate level. The GPC appointed justices to the Supreme Court. Special "revolutionary courts" and military courts operated outside the court system to try political offenses and crimes against the state. "People's courts," another example of extrajudicial authority, were abolished in January 2005. Libya's justice system was nominally based on Shari'a law.
