Libya-Group+A

**Part I-A Look at the Nation**
=﻿LIBYA = = **__Geography:__** = Libya is mostly barren, flat to underlating plains, plateaus, and depression. Its natural resources are petrolium, natural gas, and gypsum. Natural hazards are hot, dry, dust laiden, ghibly (a southern wind lasting 1-4 days in spring and fall.), dust storms and sand storms. **__Population and Religions:__** The population of Libya is 6,597,960. The median age is 24.5...males 24.5...females 24.4. Ethnic groups are Berber, and Arab (97%). Religions: Sunni Muslim (97%). **__Government:__** Government type is Jamahiriya (means the state of the masses) in theory governed by the local populous through local councils. You have to be 18 to vote, and elections occurs whenever a problem occurs in Libya. There is never a set date for elections. __**Military:**__ You have to be 17 or older to join the military. There is about the same amount of men and women in the military. The military branches are APOD (armed peoples on duty), Libyan Arab navy, Libyan Arab Air force, and Libyan Coast Guard. __**Tranportation:**__ In Libya there are 137 Airports and 2 heliports. There are a total of 100,024 km of roadway. __**Communications:**__ 1,101,000 mainlinds for telephones. There are about 5.004 million cell phones in Libya, and 353,900 internet users in Libya. ([|www.cia.gov])

**__Time line since Al Megrahi was released:__**

 * 2009 August**- Lockerbie bomber Abdelabaset Ali al-Megrahi is freed and returned to Lybia. His release causes a storm of contraversy.


 * 2009 December-** Diplomatic row with Switzerland and European Union after Gaddafi's son is held in Switzerland on charges of mistreating domestic workers.


 * 2010 January-** Russia agrees to sell Libya weapons in a deal worth 1.8 billion dollars.


 * 2010 July-** U.S senators push for inquiry into claims that BP lobbied for Lockerbie bomberse release. BP confirms to be drilling off Libyian coast.


 * 2010 December-** U.S dimplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks indicate that Gaddafi threatened to cut trade with Britain if Lockerbi bomber died in prison.

(Anti-Gadhafi Uprising)


 * 2011 February-** The human rights campaigner was arrested, which started violent protests in Benghazi and it spread to other cities. Authorities used aircrafts to attack protestors. Also, Gaddafi insisted that he will not quit.


 * 2011 March-** UN Security Council authorizes a no-fly zone over Libya and air strikes to protect civilians, over which NATO assumes command. London conference of world powers, European Union and Arab League calls on Gaddafi to quit. Backed by extensive NATO air raids, Libyan rebels initially capture territory but are then forced back by better-armed pro-Gaddafi forces. Rebels ask West for arms.



([])

**Part III-Legitimacy and the Current Leader & Government**
Is Libya's government legitimate? No it's not. They only pass 2 out of the 4 parts of the legitimacy test. In order to succeed you would need all 4, or in some cases even 3, but not 2. Libya isn't in very good condition right now, and needs a new government to help turn things around.


 * [[image:http://www.clker.com/cliparts/0/7/e/a/12074327311562940906milker_X_icon.svg.med.png width="41" height="50"]] __Part 1: Provide the 5 Purposes.-__** Libya only meets 2 out of the 5 purposes of government. That it is not enough to be a legitimate government. Usually a country needs to pass at least 4 out of the 5 purposes to be effective, and in this case only 2 are passed.

**Protection of Rights**- ([] 2010 Annual Report for Libya) Freedom of expression, association and assembly continued to be severely curtailed and the authorities showed little tolerance of dissent. Critics of the government's human rights record were punished. Foreign nationals suspected of being in the country irregularly, including refugees and asylum-seekers, were detained and ill-treated. An official investigation began into the killing of prisoners at Abu Salim Prison in 1996 but no details were disclosed and some of the victims' relatives who had campaigned for the truth were arrested. Hundreds of cases of enforced disappearance and other serious human rights violations committed in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s remained unresolved, and the Internal Security Agency (ISA), implicated in those violations, continued to operate with impunity**.** Libya doesnt really protect to many rights for their citizens as you can see. So, they dont pass this first purpose.

**Provide Services-** The Libyan Armed Forces constitute the state defence organisation of Libya. They consist of the Libyan Army, Libyan Air Force and the Libyan Navy with other services which include the People's Militia, and the rebels fighting in Libya. The total number of Libyan personnel was estimated at 119,000, though the 2011 Libyan uprising has sliced the military's numbers. ([]) There are also many schools in Libya. Libya's school year consits of 35 weeks of instruction. Students attend school 6 days a week and 280 days a year. School starts in September. So, I would say Libya provides services.

**Solve Conflict-** The Libyan court system consists of four ascending levels. The GPC appoints justices to the Supreme Court. Military courts and special "revolutionary courts" operate outside the judicial system. The court system is organized enough to solve conflicts in Libya in court.

**Good Economy-** Libyan young adults have endured staggering unemployment rates, estimated as high as 40 percent. But in terms of education level, they would be fairly similar to Egypt. Although Libyan kids are somewhat educated, a lot of adults are jobless, which is a bad economy. Also, the government has complete control of the country's oil resources. "Much of the country's income has been lost to waste, corruption, conventional armaments purchases, and attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction, as well as to large donations made to developing countries in attempts to increase Qadhafi's influence in Africa and elsewhere," said the State Department in a background paper on Libya. ([])

**Keep Order-** Violence and unrest continue to spread throughout Libya. The youth especally have been uprising against Gaddafi, who is doing a bad job controling Libya. With over 33% of Libya being 15 or under, (US State Department) there is a lot of energy in Libya's protests. With all the uprisings, there isnt really much order being kept anywhere.

**__Part 2: Longevity.-__** There are two branches of government in the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The "revolutionary sector" comprises Revolutionary Leader Gaddafi, the Revolutionary Committees and the remaining members of the 12-person Revolutionary Command Council, which was established in 1969. ([]) To be considered a long-existing government, the government has to have existed for at least 5 years. Since Muammar Gaddafi has been in power for 42 years now, Libya passes the longevity test.

**__Part 3: Have a Symbol-__** Libya meets this part too. They have symbols, including their flags. The all green flag is Libya's official flag even though their other one, the old flag is seen more and used in protests. It is all green because green is the national color of Libya. Another symbol of Libya is their Coat of Arms, which was adopted in 1977. Their anthem is called Allahu Akbar which means "God is great".

**__Part 4: Representation-__** Considering Libya has a dictatorship with Gaddafi in power, the people don't have much say in what their government does and how it runs. He has been in power since 1969, and the people can't vote to elect someone else. He is not listening to their numerous protests either, which have caused much violence across the country. The country is in a bad state, and very few people support Libya doesn't pass this part of the test.
 * Part IV-Current Uprising**

** Who Revolted? ** A majority of the protesters a young do to the fact that most of the population in Libya is young. The revolt, led by the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition (NCLO), began on February 15th of 2011. Because the protests continued the tribes throughout the nation divided in halves. The western tribes believed that the current dictator, Gaddafi, right in everything he did while the tribes of the East believed otherwise. Even though both tribes were clashing, they both were trying to do what they thought was best for their country. ** Why did they revolt? ** The people of Libya revolted because they were not satisfied with the way Gaddafi ruled their country. The protesters were fighting for their rights. Libya is one of the top oil producers in the world and Gaddafi and his political party has full control it. All the money that the oil brings in is used for whatever the party decides. Most of what they decide to use it on is a waste, being either weapons or being given to corrupted leaders. The fact that the country’s money is being mishandled it is causing inflations and the increase of the price of living. These together would eventually destroy the lower and middle class. The reason the protestors thought that revolting would be the only way to get the change they needed was because Gaddafi had been in power over 4 decades. ** How did they organize? ** There was little or no planning. It just started in Benghazi where the NCLO is located. The NCLO is who originally started the protests and the people started to follow their lead. They had believed it needed to be done but had never taken action due to unknown reasons. After February 15th, the day of the first protests, protests erupted throughout the country until it reached Tripoli, the capital of Libya. ** How did the people overthrow the government? ** Right now in Libya, the people have not been able to overthrow Gaddafi and his regime, or political party. The UN is currently agreeing with the rebelling people and insisting that Gaddafi and his party resign from power. Since the rebels have foreign support they have supplies that they need and wouldn’t have otherwise. Ten days after the first protests, the military, which support Gaddafi, shot into a crowd of over a thousand people. This is the first time anyone used firepower in the efforts to further or stop the protests. After the shots were fired, the crowd didn’t scatter as the troops had hoped. They called in thousands of more protesters into the city. When the UN got word of this event they set an investigation of Gaddafi into action. They are currently checking into reports of Gaddafi’s men firing into a large crowd. The UN also gave all UN countries authorization to do whatever it takes to protect Libyan citizens. ** How did the government respond? ** Gaddafi has accused his opponents of being influenced by hallucinogenic drugs that have been put in milk, coffee, and Nescafe distributed by Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. He has said that the revolts are due to foreign countries such as the US, France, and the UK trying to gain control of the large amount of oil. Gaddafi shut down all communications in Libya and arrested that gave phone interviews to the media. The only international reporter that were allowed to enter the country were those of who were invited by Gaddafi himself. Any international reporters that try to catch anything have been detained, beaten and sometimes even murdered. Due to the fact that some of the military soldiers supporting Gaddafi have refused to shoot protesters, he has hired foreign mercinaries to do the job. This story has been confirmed by Gaddafi’s ambassador to India al Essawi. Facts fpr this section prvided by: ( [] ) ** How was the government the same or different following the revolution? ** The government has not seen much change yet due to the fact that the rebels have not yet been successful in overthrowing Gaddafi. I guess there have been some minor changes in it only that now they are now killing their citizens because they are being protested.