Timeline Libya
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Tripoli was a Barbary State of North Africa
and then a province of Turkey before it became part of Libya.
(WUD, 1994, p.1516)
The national flag is green with no writing or decoration.
Green is the traditional color of Islam.
(SFC, 10/31/98, p.D4)
c1179BC Ramessu III beat back a
Libyan invasion in his fifth year, this invasion was accompanied by
war galleys from the northern countries.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.22)
631BC The city of Cyrene, in
what later became Libya, was first developed by the Greeks. It was
later settled by the Romans and destroyed in the earthquake of 365.
(SFC, 9/11/07, p.A16)
630BC Battus I of Cyrene
(d.600) founded the Greek colony of Cyrenaica and its capital,
Cyrene about this time. He was the first king of Cyrenaica, the
first Greek king in Africa, and the founder of the Battiad dynasty.
His son, Arcesilaus I of Cyrene, served as the second Greek king of
Cyrenaica and the second king of the Battiad dynasty. Cyrenaica, the
eastern coastal region of Libya, was also known as Pentapolis in
antiquity. Herodotus later told of how the oracle at Delphi told the
Libyans to organize along tribal lines and to keep the king in
charge at his home area.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcesilaus_I_of_Cyrene)(SSFC, 4/24/11,
p.F4)
19BC Lucius Cornelius Balbus
led 20,000 men of the 3rd Augusta Legion across the Hamada al-Hamra
(Red Rocky Plain) in the first Roman attack on the Garamantian
heartland (Libya). Romans turned Ghadames, Libya, into a garrison
town.
(Arch, 9/02,
p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garamantes)(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
158 Apulieus of Madaura
(~124-~180), Romanised Berber and author of “The Golden Ass” (aka
the Metamorphoses) defended himself at the Roman basilica in
Sabratha (Libya) against charges of witchcraft in an oration known
as Pro de se magia, or more commonly the Apologia. The Golden Ass is
the only Latin novel which has survived in its entirety, and is an
imaginative, irreverent, and amusing work which relates the
ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, who experiments in magic and is
accidentally turned into an ass.
(Arch, 9/02, p.47)(http://tinyurl.com/lrgfb8)
193 Apr 14, Lucius Septimius
Severus (d.211), a native son of Leptis Magna in Libya, was crowned
emperor of Rome. Under his rule the empire reached its greatest
extent with almost 50 provinces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus)(SSFC, 6/27/04,
p.D12)
203 Lucius Septimus Severus
(d.211), emperor of Rome, returned to visit home at Leptis Magna
(Libya).
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
365 Jul 21, An earthquake,
whose epicenter was in Crete, leveled the Egyptian Port of
Alexandria as well as the Roman outpost of Leptis Magna in Libya.
Some 50,000 people died.
(www.earthscape.org/r2/jos/vol1-1june1997/pg55.html)(AM, Mar/Apr 97
p.18)
c1000BC The Garamantes, a tribal people descended
from Berbers and Saharan pastoralists, inhabited the area of the
Fazzan in southern Libya.
(AM, 3/04, p.24)
c500BC The Garamantes of southern Libya began
constructing underground tunnels to link shafts to sandstone
aquifers.
(AM, 3/04, p.27)
c500BCE Phoenicians founded Tripoli about this
time.
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
400-300BCE The Greek writer Ephorus referred to
the Celts, Scythians, Persians and Libyans as the four great
barbarian peoples in the known world.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.11)
300-200BCE The city of Berenice on the
Mediterranean coast was named by the Greeks.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C6)
30BCE Construction began on the Temple of Isis in
Sabratha, Libya. It was completed in 14CE.
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
19BCE Romans turned Ghadames,
Libya, into a garrison town.
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
0-100CE Berenice was acquired by the Romans. The
site later became a suburb of Benghazi and studied by British
archeologist John Lloyd (d.1999) in the 1970s.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C6)
70CE A Roman punitive
expedition forced the Garamantes of southern Libya to enter into an
official relationship with Rome.
(AM, 3/04, p.28)
193 Apr 14, Lucius Septimus
Severus (d.211), a native son of Leptis Magna in Libya, was crowned
emperor of Rome. Under his rule the empire reached its greatest
extent with almost 50 provinces.
(AM, 11/00, p.12)(MC, 4/14/02)(SSFC, 6/27/04,
p.D12)
203 Lucius Septimus Severus
(d.211), emperor of Rome, returned to visit home at Leptis Magna,
Libya
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
632-661 The Rashidun Caliphate, also known as the
Rightly Guided Caliphate, comprising the first four caliphs in
Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death. At its height,
the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant,
Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and
Central Asia in the east. It was the one of the largest empires in
history up until that time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashidun_Caliphate)
1109 Jul 12, Crusaders captured
harbor city of Tripoli.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1177 Aug 2, Philip of Flanders
arrived in Acre. A Christian army under the joint command of Philip
of Flanders and Raymond of Tripoli marched west to campaign against
the Muslims around Tripoli.
(ON, 6/07,
p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_of_Flanders)
1500-1800 Ottoman Turk rule extended over Libya.
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
1798 Nov 4, Congress agreed to
pay a yearly tribute to Tripoli, considering it the only way to
protect U.S. shipping.
(HN, 11/4/98)
1801 May 14, The Pasha of
Tripoli symbolically declared war on the US by cutting down the
flagstaff in front of the US Consulate, after learning that Pres.
Jefferson had refused to pay a renewed tribute of $225,000.
(ON, 10/06, p.8)
1801 Jun 10, The North African
state of Tripoli declared war on the United States in a dispute over
safe passage of merchant vessels through the Mediterranean. Tripoli
declared war on the U.S. for refusing to pay tribute.
(AP, 6/10/97)(HN, 6/10/98)
1801 Jul 17, The U.S. fleet
arrived in Tripoli after Pasha Yusuf Karamanli declared war for
being refused tribute.
(HN, 7/17/99)
1801 Aug 1, The American
schooner Enterprise captured the Barbary cruiser Tripoli.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1803 Oct, The USS Philadelphia
was captured by the Tripolitans. 307 sailors were held for ransom by
the Pasha of Tripoli.
(www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/barb-war/burn-phl.htm)(ON,
10/06, p.8)
1803 Dec 23, Lt. Stephen
Decatur, commanding the schooner Enterprise, captured a Barbary
ketch, which was entered into the US Navy as the Intrepid.
(ON, 2/03, p.2)
1804 Feb 16, Lt. Stephen
Decatur attacked Tripoli, where pirates held the USS Philadelphia.
Decatur and 76 volunteers, aboard the captured Intrepid, attempted
to recapture the Philadelphia, which caught fire, exploded and sank.
Decatur and his crew escaped.
(AP, 2/16/98)(HN, 2/16/98)(ON, 2/03, p.2)
1804 Aug 3, US Commodore Edward
Prebble’s squadron bombarded Tripoli inflicting heavy damages on the
city.
(ON, 2/03, p.4)
1805 Apr 27, US navy ships
began to bombard the Tripoli port of Derna. Mercenaries gathered in
Egypt and a small contingent of US Marines under former Tunis consul
William Eaton attacked Tripoli and captured the city of Derna [later
part of Libya].
(AP, 4/27/97)(HN, 4/27/98)(ON, 10/06, p.9)
1805 Jun 4, The US signed a
Treaty of Peace and Amity at Tripoli. The US agreed to pay Tripoli
$60,000 in war reparations and was in turn absolved of tribute
demands. The treaty was ratified by the US on Apr 17, 1806.
(ON, 2/03,
p.4)(www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diplomacy/barbary/bar1805t.htm)
1815 Aug 5, A peace treaty with
Tripoli, which followed treaties with Algeria and Tunis (Aug 28),
brought an end to the Barbary Wars. Commodores Stephen Decatur and
William Bainbridge had conducted successful operations against the
Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
(HN, 8/5/98)(WSJ, 10/9/01, p.A22)(ON, 10/06,
p.10)
1823 British Major Dixon Denham
and Captain Hugh Clapperton (1788-1827) entered Northern Nigeria
from the north, crossing the desert from Tripoli.
(Econ, 1/7/06, p.74)(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Clapperton)
1825 Jul 16, Alexander Gordon
Laing (32), British Army Major, set off on camel from Tripoli in an
attempt to become the 1st European to cross the Sahara Desert and
reach the fabled city of Timbuktu (Mali).
(SSFC, 1/1/06, p.M2)(ON, 11/06, p.5)
1837 Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali
as-Senussi (1787-1860), an Algeria-born mendicant founded the
Sanusi, a Sufi order, in Mecca. Beida, Libya, later became the seat
of the Sanusi.
(Econ, 2/26/11,
p.27)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senussi)
1843 Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali
as-Senussi returned to North Africa from Mecca, settling in Jabal
Akhdar in Cyrenaica (Libya). In the mountainous fastness of the area
he founded a center of operations at al-Beida with the organization
of the al-Sanusi Sufi lodge and built the Zawiya al-Baida (White
Monastery).
(http://tinyurl.com/5tkfked)
1911 Sep 30, Italy declared war
on Turkey over control of Tripoli.
(HN, 9/30/98)
1911 Oct 5, Italian troops
occupied Tripoli.
(MC, 10/5/01)
1911 Oct, Italian troops began
deporting Libyans to Italian islands in the Adriatic. More then
5,000 Libyans were deported between 1911 and WW II in an effort to
break the resistance.
(AFP, 10/26/07)
1911 Nov 1, Italian planes
performed the first aerial bombing on Tanguira oasis in Libya. Lt.
Giulio Cavotti dropped a hand grenade on an oasis outside of
Tripoli. In 2001 Sven Lindqvist authored "A History of Bombing."
(HN, 11/1/98)(SFC, 4/22/01, BR p.3)
1911 Nov 5, Italy attacked
Turkish North-Africa (Libya), and took Tripoli and Cyrenaica.
First use of a plane dropping bombs. [see Nov 1]
(MC, 11/5/01)
1911 Nov 5, Italy attacked
Turkish North-Africa (Libya), and took Tripoli and Cyrenaica.
First use of a plane dropping bombs.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1911-1931 Omar Mukhtar harassed the Italian forces
attempting to subdue Libya. The 1981 film “Lion in the Desert”
starred Anthony Quinn as Omar Mukhtar.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.29)
1915 In Libya during the war
against the Italian colonial rulers, a Misratan rebel commander
named Ramadan al-Sweihy was betrayed and then killed by the
tribesmen of Bani Walid, who were taking money from the Italians.
(AP, 9/2/11)
1922 Sep 13, In El Azizia,
Libya, a temperature of 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius) was
the hottest ever measured on Earth.
(AP, 7/23/03)
1931 Sep 16, Omar Mukhtar
(b.1862), Libyan hero, was hanged by Italian authorities in the
concentration camp of Solluqon. From 1912 he had led an insurrection
against Italian invaders.
(Econ, 11/14/09,
p.101)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Mukhtar)
1940 Sep 12, Italian forces
began an offensive into Egypt from Libya.
(HN, 9/12/98)
1941 Jan 21, Australia &
Britain attacked Tobruk, Libya.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1941 Jan 22, British and
Australian troops captured Tobruk from Italians.
(MC, 1/22/02)
1941 Jan 28, French General
Charles DeGaulle's Free French forces sacked south Libya oasis.
(HN, 1/28/99)
1941 Feb 6, The RAF cleared the
way as British took Benghazi, Libya, trapping thousands of Italians.
(HN, 2/6/99)
1941 Feb 11, Lt-Gen Erwin
Rommel arrived in Tripoli.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1941 Feb 14, German Afrika
Korps landed in Tripoli, Libya.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1941 Mar 21, The last Italian
post in East Libya fell to the British.
(HN, 3/21/98)
1941 Mar 24, German troops
occupied El Agheila, Libya.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1941 Mar 30, The German Afrika
Korps under General Erwin Rommel began its first offensive against
British forces in Libya.
(HN, 3/30/99)
1941 Apr 4, Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel captured the British held town of Benghazi in North Africa.
(HN, 4/4/99)
1941 Apr 13, There was a heavy
German assault on Tobruk.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1941 May 1, A German assault
took place on Tobruk.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1941 Nov 27, British 13th Army
corp. reached Tobruk.
(MC, 11/27/01)
1941 Nov, The first British SAS
operation, planned to see troops parachute deep behind enemy lines
and destroy German and Italian aircraft at two airfields in Libya,
took place. Strong winds and driving rain caused chaotic conditions,
with several soldiers becoming injured as they attempted to
parachute and one plane shot down, killing 15 troops and the crew.
In 2011 a 600-page book, called "The SAS War Diary," detailed the
regiment's role in the invasions of Sicily and Italy and famed D-Day
landings in France.
(AP, 9/23/11)
1941 Dec 7, The 8 month German
siege of Tobruk ended.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1941 Dec 13, British forces
launched an offensive in Libya.
(HN, 12/13/98)
1942 Jan 29, German and Italian
troops took Benghazi in North Africa.
(HN, 1/29/99)
1942 Mar 26, A German offensive
took place in North-Africa under Colonel-General Rommel.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1942 May 27, German General
Erwin Rommel began a major offensive in Libya with his Afrika Korps.
(HN, 5/27/99)
1942 Jun 21, German General
Erwin Rommel captured the port city of Tobruk in North Africa and
25,000 Allied troops.
(HN, 6/21/98)(Camelot, 6/21/99)
1942 Jul 11(Jun 11), The German
army was defeated at El-Alamein, North Africa.
(MC, 7/11/02)
1942 Aug 10, Gen. Bernard Law
Montgomery was named commandant of the British 8th Army campaigning
in N. Africa. He arrived Aug 13.
(www.topedge.com/panels/ww2/na/frame.html)
1942 Moammar Gadhafi, the
"Guide of the Masses," was born.
(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)
1943 Jan 13, General Leclerc's
Free French forces merged with the British under Montgomery in
Libya.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1943 Jan 22, Axis forces pulled
out of Tripoli for Tunisia, and destroyed bases as they left.
(HN, 1/22/99)
1943 Apr 28, German-Italian
forces launched a counter offensive in North-Africa.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1945 In Libya deadly attacks
took place against the Jewish community, which numbered some 40,000,
prompting many to leave.
(WSJ, 1/10/07, p.A19)
1948 In Libya more deadly
attacks took place against the Jewish community, prompting most of
those remaining to leave. A few thousand remained until 1967.
(WSJ, 1/10/07, p.A19)
1949 Nov 21, The UN Assembly
decided for the eventual independence of Italy’s former colonies. In
the meantime they remained under UN supervision. United Nations
granted Libya its independence in the year 1952.
(EWH, 1968, p.1176)(HN, 11/21/98)
1949 The Muslim Brotherhood,
founded in Egypt (1928), formed in Libya. It was later banned by
Colonel Qaddafi.
(Econ, 2/18/12, p.50)
1951 Libya enacted a
constitution that formally protected the minority rights of Jews,
Italians, Maltese and Greeks.
(WSJ, 1/10/07, p.A19)
1966 Occidental Petroleum under
Armand Hammer won valuable drilling rights in Libya by bribing a key
member of the Libyan royal family.
(SFC, 1/17/96, p.D7)
1967 Jul, In the wake of the
Six Day War some 2,000 Jews in Libya were compelled to leave the
country.
(WSJ, 1/10/07, p.A19)
1969 Sep 1, A coup in Libya
overthrew the monarchy of King Idris and brought Moammar Gadhafi
(27) to power. Crown Prince al-Hassan al-Reda, was acting ruler
while King al-Senousi, al-Senousi's grandfather, was undergoing
medical treatment in Turkey. Gadhafi emerged as leader of the
revolutionary government and ordered the closure of a U.S. Air Force
base.
(AP, 9/1/99)(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)(AP, 6/26/05)
1969-1984 Libya’s Crown Prince al-Reda and his
family remained under house arrest for 7 years after the coup. He
then spent 2 years in detention without trial where he was said to
have been tortured. He suffered a brain tumor that paralyzed his
body and traveled to Britain for treatment. He died 6 years later
when the Libyan office in London suspended payment for the
treatment.
(AP, 6/26/05)
1970 Jun 11, The United States
presence in Libya came to an end as the last detachment left Wheelus
Air Base.
(AP, 6/11/00)
1970 Jul 21, Libya ordered the
confiscation of all Jewish property.
(http://tinyurl.com/48p4fy)
1970 Nov 27, Syria joined the
pact linking Libya, Egypt and Sudan.
(HN, 11/27/98)
1970 Colonel Qaddafi expelled
20,000 Italians from Libya.
(Econ, 8/2/08,
p.54)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Italians)
1972 Libya’s leader Muammar
Qaddafi proclaimed his Third Universal Theory, aimed at turning
Libya into a model of applied socialism and popular democracy.
(Econ, 9/22/07, p.61)
1973 Feb 21, Israeli fighter
planes shot down a Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai
Desert, killing over 100 people.
(AP, 2/21/98)
1973 Jul 20, The Japanese Red
Army and Lebanese guerrillas hijacked a Japan Airlines plane over
the Netherlands. The passengers and crew were released in Libya
where the hijackers blew up the plane.
(SFC, 11/9/00,
p.C2)(www.cdi.org/friendlyversion/printversion.cfm?documentID=1771)
1973 Oct 16, OPEC, the Arab
oil-producing nations, announced they would begin cutting back on
oil exports to Western nations and Japan. The next day, the five
Arab members of the OPEC committee were joined in Kuwait by the oil
ministers of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The result
was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974 and caused oil
prices to quadruple.
(www.harvardir.org/articles/1659/)(AP,
10/17/97)(WSJ, 7/28/03, p.A8)
1973 Nov 19, Saudi Arabia,
Libya and other Arab states proclaimed a total ban on oil exports to
the United States. Gasoline prices quadrupled from twenty-five cents
per gallon to over one dollar. The New York stock market took its
sharpest drop in 19 years.
(HN,
11/19/98)(www.bullnotbull.com/archive/market-01222006.html)
1973 The Irish Navy caught Joe
Cahill as he tried to smuggle 5 tons of Russian-made explosives,
guns and ammunition from Libya.
(SFC, 7/26/04, p.B4)
1974 Mar 17 Arab oil ministers,
with the exception of Libya, announced the end the oil embargo on
the US.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis)
1974 May, Major Abdel Jalloud,
Libya's second in command, traveled to Moscow and concluded the
first in a series of arms sales agreements that remain the largest
ever reached by the Soviets.
(www.heritage.org/research/MiddleEast/bg362.cfm)
1975 Libya’s leader Muammar
Qaddafi published The Green Book. The 3-part book rejects modern
conceptions of liberal democracy and encourages the institution of a
form of direct democracy based on popular committees.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Book)
1977 Mar 2, Libya amended its
constitution and changed its name from The Libyan Arab Republic to
The Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahirya.
(http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dr_ibrahim_ighneiwa/libyans.htm)
1977 Nov 19, The Libyan flag
was adopted, after Libya left the Federation of Arabs Republic,
which consisted of Libya, Egypt and Syria.
(www.worldflags101.com/l/libya-flag.aspx)
1977 Col. Moammar Gadhafi
launched his Jamahariya, or "State of the Masses."
(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)
1978 Aug 31, Imam Moussa
al-Sadr, the spiritual leader of Lebanon's Shiite Muslim community,
disappeared along with 2 companions during a visit to Libya. In 2008
a Lebanese prosecutor charged Moammar Khadafy and 6 other Libyan
officials in the disappearance.
(AP,
9/3/03)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_al-Sadr)(SFC, 8/28/08,
p.A7)
1979 Jan 10, Billy Carter, the
brother of US Pres. Jimmy Carter, made allegedly anti-Semitic
remarks. Billy eventually registered as a foreign agent of the
Libyan government and received a $220,000 loan. This led to a Senate
hearing over alleged influence peddling which some in the press
dubbed "Billygate."
(http://tinyurl.com/2krnv2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Carter)
1979 Apr 11, Idi Amin was
deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by
Tanzanian forces seized control of Kampala. Amin escaped to Libya
and settled into exile in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/11/97)(SFC, 10/15/99,
p.D7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin)
1979 Dec 2, Some 2,000 Libyans
ransacked the US embassy at Tripoli, Libya, chanting support for the
radical Islamic regime that took power in Iran earlier in the year.
(AP, 12/30/03)
1980 Jul 23, The US Senator
Judiciary Committee was reported to be officially joining those
investigating allegations of misconduct in Billy Carter's
relationship with Libya.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1980-7/1980-07-23-ABC-2.html)
1980 Colonel Muammar Khaddafi
of Libya recruited the nationless, disenfranchised nomads by
implying that he would train the Kel Tamashek and provide weapons to
fight for their independence from the Malian government. The rebels
slowly realized that Khadaffi's only intention was to use them in
his own wars. Some of these dejected fighters formed the band
Tinariwen in Khadaffi's rebel camp.
(www.jacneed.com/10Tinariwen.htm)
1981 May 6, The US expelled
Libyan diplomats.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/cron.html)
1981 Aug 12, President Reagan,
citing alleged Libyan involvement in terrorism, ordered U.S. jets to
attack targets in Libya.
(AP, 12/19/03)
1981 Aug 19, Two U.S. Navy F-14
jet fighters shot down a pair of Soviet-built Libyan SU-22s in a
dogfight over the Gulf of Sidra.
(AP, 8/19/06)
1981 Dec 11, Concerned about
the safety of Americans in Libya, the Reagan administration asked
them to leave. It also invalidated the use of US passports for
travel to Libya.
(AP, 12/19/03)
1981 Libya froze state wages.
(Econ, 3/11/06, p.42)
1981-1986 In Uganda Yoweri Museveni led a
five-year bush war against Milton Obote. Museveni had trained in a
Libya guerrilla camp.
(SFC, 5/11/96, p.A-8)(AP, 12/16/02)
1982 Mar 10, Pres Reagan
proclaimed economic sanctions against Libya and banned Libyan oil
imports, because of the continued support of terrorism.
(HN,
3/10/98)(www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=38082)
1983 Nov 25, Syria and Saudi
Arabia announced a cease-fire in PLO civil war in Tripoli.
(www.defense-update.com/2005/02/arafats-dissidents-challenge-to-abu.html)
1983 Edwin Wilson was convicted
of running arms to Libya. In 2003 the conviction was thrown out
because prosecutors knew he worked for the CIA and misled the court.
(WSJ, 10/29/03, p.A1)
1984 Apr 17, Yvonne Fletcher
(25), a British police officer, was killed from rifle shots fired
from a window of the Libyan embassy in London during a demonstration
against Moammar Khadafy. Diplomatic relations were soon severed and
not restored until 1999. Libya later gave Fletcher’s family some
compensation. In 2004 a joint British-Libyan investigation into the
murder was launched. In 2009 Moamer Kadhafi officially
apologized for the shooting. In 2011 it was reported that a witness
had identified Abdulmagid Salah Ameri, a junior diplomat working in
the administrative section, as firing a gun from an embassy window.
(SFC, 7/8/99, p.A8)(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)(AP,
4/7/04)(AFP, 10/26/09)(AFP, 8/26/11)
1985 Jan 8, The Rev. Lawrence
Martin Jenco was kidnapped in Lebanon. He was released 19 months
later.
(AP, 1/8/05)
1985 Aug 21, Tunisia expelled
253 Libyans in apparent retaliation for Libya’s expulsion of over
20,000 Tunisian workers in recent weeks.
(http://tinyurl.com/yq3x4e)
1985 Charles Taylor escaped
from a Plymouth County jail in Massachusetts while awaiting
extradition to Liberia, where he was accused of embezzling money as
an official in the dictatorship of Samuel Doe. He went to Libya
received military training as a guest of Col. Moammar Ghadafi.
Taylor met Foday Sankoh, a corporal from Sierra Leone while training
in Libya.
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A10)(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B5)(AP,
12/16/02)
1986 Jan 1, Libyan
leader Moammar Ghadafi threatened to retaliate if attacked as the
United States built its strength in the Mediterranean .
(HN, 1/1/99)
1986 Jan 7, US president Reagan
proclaimed economic sanctions against Libya.
(www.iie.com/research/topics/sanctions/libya.cfm)
1986 Jan 23, U.S. began
maneuvers off the Libyan coast.
(HN, 1/23/99)
1986 Apr 5, A Berlin nightclub
was bombed and 2 US soldiers and a woman were killed and 230
injured. Palestinian Yasser Shraydi (Chraidi) was suspected of
playing a lead role in the bombing of the La Belle discotheque. In
1996 he was extradited from Lebanon to face charges in Germany. In
1996 Andrea Hasler was arrested in Greece and extradited to Germany.
Also a woman named Verena Chanaa, suspected of planting the bomb,
and her former husband named Ali Chanaa were arrested in Berlin. In
1997 Musbah Abulghasen Eter was arrested by Italian police in Rome
in connection with the bombing. In 2001 V. Chanaa was sentenced to
14 years, A. Chanaa and Eter were sentenced to 12 years, and Chraidi
was sentenced to 14 years. Libya was implicated and in 2004 agreed
to pay $35 million in compensation.
(SFC, 5/234/96, p.A14)(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A12)(WSJ,
8/28/97, p.A1)(SFC, 8/28/97, p.C3)(SFC, 11/14/01, p.A18)(AP, 9/3/04)
1986 Apr 14, Americans got
first word of the U.S. air raid on Libya (because of the time
difference, it was the early morning of April 15th where the attack
occurred). US aircraft attacked five terrorist locations in Libya in
response to the Apr 5 terrorist attack in Berlin. In 2003 Joseph T.
Stanik authored "El Dorado Canyon," an account of the military
strike.
(AP, 4/14/97)(HN, 4/14/98)(SFC, 12/18/99,
p.C4)(WSJ, 2/11/03, p.D8)
1986 Apr 14, Italy, which
opposed an American strike against Libya, warned Libya a day before
the strike, which was launched from a NATO base on the Sicilian
island of Lampedusa.
(AP, 10/30/08)
1986 Apr 15, The United States
launched an air raid with F-111 warplanes against Libya in response
to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April 5; Libya said 41
people, mostly civilians, were killed in Tripoli and Benghazi. The
step-daughter of Moammar Gadhafi, Hana, was reportedly among those
killed near Tripoli by the US bombing. In 2011 evidence emerged that
Hana was not killed and completed medical school 2010.
(WSJ, 8/30/00, p.A1)(AP, 12/19/08)(AP,
10/31/08)(AP, 8/30/11)
1986 Apr 16, Dispelling rumors
he was dead, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared on television to
condemn the US raid on his country.
(AP, 4/16/06)
1986 Ghadames, Libya, was
designated a World Heritage site.
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
1987 In Burkina Faso Blaise
Compaore, trained in Gadhafi's guerrilla camps, seized power in a
bloody takeover. Libya and Burkina Faso later denied repeated
accusations of gunrunning to West Africa hot spots.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.A10)(AP, 12/16/02)
1987 France ousted Libyan
troops from a disputed area of northern Chad. In the proxy war,
code-named Arid Farmer, France and the US backed government forces
against Libyan troops.
(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 2/11/03, p.D8)
1988 Dec 21, Pan Am Flight 103
was downed over Lockerbie, Scotland by a terrorist bomb. 270 people
were killed aboard the Boeing 747. Libya was accused of
responsibility for the bombing, which killed 259 people onboard and
11 on the ground. Two Libyan operatives, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and
A-Amin Khalifa Fahimah, were indicted in 1991 and thought to be in
hiding in Libya. They were sent to the Netherlands for trial in 1999
and implicated Mohammed Abu Talb, a Palestinian terrorist jailed in
Sweden. In 2000 Ahmad Behbahani (32) told a 60 Minutes journalist
from a refugee camp in Turkey that he proposed the Pan Am operation
and coordinated the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi
Arabia. He also claimed that Iran was behind the 1994 bombing in
Argentina that killed 86 people. Behbahani was later called a fraud
by the CIA and FBI. In 2001 a Scottish court convicted Abdel Basset
Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, of murder in the 1998
bombing of Pan am Flight 103. A 2nd Libyan, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah,
was acquitted. The conviction was upheld in 2002. In 2003 Libya set
up a $2.7 billion fund for families of 270 people killed.
(WSJ, 12/18/95, p.A-9)(SFC, 5/11/96, p.A-8)(SFC,
6/7/97, p.A4)(AP, 12/21/97)(WSJ, 4/6/99, p.A1)(SFC, 11/25/99,
p.A14)(SFC, 6/5/00, p.A9)(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)(SFEC, 6/11/00,
p.A20)(SFC, 1/31/01, p.A11)(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A9)(AP, 8/15/03)
1989 Jan 4, US Navy F-14s shot
down 2 Libyan jet fighters over Mediterranean.
(www.history.navy.mil/wars/foabroad.htm)
1989 Jul 27, Eighty people were
killed when a Korean Air DC-10 crashed in Libya.
(AP, 7/27/99)
1989 Sep 19, A Paris-bound
French DC-10, UTA Flight 772, was bombed over the Sahara desert of
Niger and all 170 passengers died. French authorities placed the
blame on Libya’s Abdallah Senoussi, brother-in-law of Moammar
Khadafy and chief of foreign operations for the Libyan secret
service. The six Libyan suspects were named by a French judge in
1998 and tried in absentia in 1999. The attack was in retaliation
for French intervention on behalf of Chad in a war with Libya since
the mid 1980s. In 2004 Libya signed a $170 million compensation
accord with families of the people killed. In 2008 a federal judge
in Washington ordered Libya and six of its officials to pay more
than $6 billion in damages to the families of 7 Americans killed in
the attack.
(SFC, 5/7/97, p.C3)(SFEC,10/19/97, p.A26)(WSJ,
1/30/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A11)(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)(AP,
9/19/99)(AP, 1/9/04)(Reuters, 1/16/08)
1989 The Arab Maghreb Union was
created to encourage free trade between Algeria, Libya, Mauritania,
Morocco and Tunisia. It failed to hold summit meetings after 1994.
(Econ, 5/29/10, p.50)
1989-1993 An outbreak of Old World Screwworm was
eradicated by a coordinated int’l. effort.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A7)
1991 Nov 14, U.S. and British
authorities announced indictments against two Libyan intelligence
officials in connection with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
(AP, 11/14/01)
1992 Mar 23, The president of
the U.N. Security Council announced that Libya had offered to
surrender two men suspected in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 to
the Arab League. Libya reversed itself two days later; however, the
suspects surrendered for trial seven years later. One was
subsequently convicted, the other found innocent.
(AP, 3/23/02)
1992 Mar 25, Libyan leader Col.
Moammar Gadhafi backed away from an offer to turn over two suspects
in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 to the Arab League.
(AP, 3/25/97)
1992 Apr 7, PLO chairman Yasser
Arafat survived the crash landing of his plane in the Libyan desert;
three crew members were killed.
(AP, 4/7/97)
1992 Apr 14, Libya cut itself
off from the world for 24 hours to mark the sixth anniversary of the
U.S. air raid, the same day the World Court rejected Libya's appeal
to prevent sanctions against it for refusing to turn over suspects
in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
(AP, 4/14/97)
1992 Apr 15, Countries barred
Libyan jets from their airspace and ordered diplomats to go home
because of Libya's refusal to turn over suspects in the bombing of
Pan Am Flight 103. U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on arms
sales and air travel against Libya to prod Gadhafi into surrendering
two suspects wanted in the Pan Am 103.
(AP, 4/15/97)(AP, 12/19/03)
1992 Dec 22, A Libyan Boeing
727 jetliner crashed, killing 157 people.
(AP, 12/22/97)
1992 An agreement was made on
sharing water from Nubian sandstone aquifer system, the largest in
the world, located under Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan.
(Econ, 10/9/10, p.87)
1993 Dec 10, Mansour Rashid
El-Kikhia, former Libyan ambassador to the UN, was kidnapped in
Cairo. The US CIA later reported that he was taken to Libya and
executed in early 1994.
(SSFC, 5/21/06, p.E5)(http://tinyurl.com/lnqr5)
1993 In Libya Moammar Ghadafi
uncovered a coup attempt and plot to assassinate him by 55 Warfala
army officers. For years afterward Bani Walid, 90 miles (140 km)
southeast of Tripoli, was in official disfavor.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A17)(AP, 9/2/11)
1995 Sep 1, Moammar Ghadafi of
Libya announced the expulsion of all 30,000 Palestinians from Libya.
More than 1,200 ended up in a border camp between Libya and Egypt.
(SFC, 8/22/96, p.E1)
1995 Libya declared jihad
against NATO, but no concrete action was taken.
(WSJ, 10/10/01, p.A10)
1995 The Libyan Islamic
Fighting Group, an Islamist militant group, first announced its
existence vowing to overthrow Gaddafi and launching a violent
campaign.
(AP, 9/6/09)
1996 Jan, Louis Farrakhan
visited Libya and received a promise of $1 billion from Col. Moammar
Ghadafi. His tour also included stops in Iran, Nigeria and the
Sudan.
(SFC, 8/27/96, p.A3)
1996 Feb, In Libya a plan to
kill Moammar Ghadafi failed and several bystanders were killed. In
1998 David Shayler, a former member of the British intelligence
services, revealed the information in France while fighting
extradition to Britain. The British foreign secretary denied the
attack. Shayler returned to London in 2000 to face charges.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A9)(SFC, 8/22/00, p.A10)
1996 Mar 28, Col Gadhaffi of
Libya sent troops to put down unrest in northeaster Libya after a
400 prisoners, many including dissidents and Islamic militants,
escaped from prison last week.
(WSJ, 3/28/96,p.A-1)
1996 Apr 4, US intelligence
indicated that Libya was building a chemical weapons plant at
Tarhunah, 40 miles southeast of Tripoli. The plant was reportedly
designed to replace a plant at Rabta, 55 miles SW of Tripoli, where
Libya insists that only pharmaceuticals are produced.
(SFC, 4/4/96, p.A-3)
1996 May 17, Libya was
preparing to expel some of its 30,000 Palestinians.
(WSJ, 5/17/96,p.A-1)
1996 May 29, Col. Moammar
Ghadafi left Cairo after a five-day visit. He went about town with
his well-armed female bodyguards and spoke with numerous
intellectuals, union leaders, business leaders and officials. He
offered a vision of Libyan style democracy, a decentralized
government based on popular committees.
(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A10)
1996 Jun 26, In Libya some 1270
inmates were killed at Tripoli's Abu Salim prison after protesting
conditions there. They included more than 200 guards. Libyan
enforcer Abdullah Sanussi ordered Gen. Mansur Dao to carry out the
execution. Libya opened an investigation in 2009 into the incident.
The killings took place amid confrontation between the government
and rebels from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an Islamist
militant group which first announced its existence in 1995. In 2011
revolutionaries found their mass grave after getting information
from captured regime officials and witnesses. The body count was put
at 1700.
(www.hrw.org/en/node/87096/section/9)(Econ,
3/5/11, p.50)(AFP, 9/26/11)(Econ, 9/17/11, p.46)
1996 Jul 12, In Libya at least
20 people were killed in Tripoli at a soccer match. Bodyguards loyal
to the sons of Moammar Ghadafi fired at spectators who shouted
hostile slogans. A stampede resulted.
(SFC, 7/15/96, p.A11)
1996 Aug 23, The Nation of
Islam applied to the US Treasury Dept. for permission to accept a $1
bil donation from Col. Moammar Gadhafi that was promised to Rev.
Louis Farrakhan to help America’s black people.
(WSJ, 8/26/96, p.A1)
1996 Oct 6, Turkey’s prime
minister urged Moammar Ghadafi to sign a document to denounce
Kurdish rebel terrorism but instead Ghadafi condemned Turkish
repression of the Kurds. A trade deal hung in suspension.
(SFEC, 10/7/96, A9)
1996 Nov 23, A member of the
Fighting Islamic Group, Abdullah Guryou, hurled a grenade at Moammar
Ghadafi in the desert town of Brak. Ghadafi was not hurt.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A17)
1997 Jan 2, In Libya 6 military
officers and 2 civilians were executed on charges of spying. Experts
believed they case was related to the 1993 coup attempt.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A17)
1997 Mar 10, The Vatican
established diplomatic relations with Libya.
(SFC, 3/11/97, p.A11)
1997 Oct 29, South Africa’s
Nelson Mandela arrived in Libya to bestow the Order of Good Hope on
Colonel Muammar Qaddafi.
(Econ, 9/3/11,
p.45)(www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/ir/sirga/ARboyd273.pdf)
1997 Dec 2, It was reported
that Libya was constructing some 2,000 miles of tunnels with 13-foot
concrete pipes. Libya called it the Great Man-Made River Project and
it stretched from Tunisia to Egypt. Analysts feared it would be used
for military purposes. The primary contractor was Dong Ah, a South
Korean construction conglomerate and much of the equipment used was
of US make.
(SFC, 12/2/97, p.A11)
1997 Mansour Omar El-Kikhia
published his book “Libya’s Qaddafi: The Politics of Contradiction”
in the US. He was the cousin of Mansour Rashid El-Kikhia, Libya’s
former UN ambassador, who was executed in 1994.
(SSFC, 5/21/06, p.E5)(http://tinyurl.com/lnqr5)
1998 Feb 27, The World Court
ruled that it has the authority to decide on the location of a trial
for the 2 Libyans accused of blowing up a jet over Lockerbie,
Scotland in 1988.
(SFC, 2/28/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 24, The United States
and Britain agreed to allow two Libyan suspects in the bombing of
Pan Am flight 103 to be tried by a Scottish court sitting in the
Netherlands. A former Libyan intelligence agent was later convicted
of murder; the other suspect was acquitted.
(AP, 8/24/08)
1998 Aug 26, Libya indicated
that it would accept an American and British proposal that 2
suspects of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet be tried in the
Netherlands by Scottish judges.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 5, Libyan leader
Moammar Ghadafi was reported to have turned his face to Africa
rather than a pan-Arab unity: ""I would like Libya to become a black
country. Hence, I recommend to Libyan men to marry only black women,
and to Libyan women to marry black men."
(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A14)
1998 Dec 4, The London Guardian
was cited in a report that 3 high security officials in Libya, were
convicted and sentenced to prison for dereliction of duty. Abdullah
Senussi, Musa Koussa and Mohammed al-Misrati were thought to be the
superiors of the men wanted for the 1988Lockerbie Pan Am bombing.
(SFC, 12/4/98, p.A16)
1998 Dec 15, The 500 members of
Libya’s General People’s Congress voted for conditional approval for
the trial of Pan Am Flight 103 bombing suspects in a 3rd country.
(SFC, 12/16/98, p.A15)
1998 In Libya children at
Al-Fateh Children’s Hospital were found diagnosed with HIV. In
all 438 children were found to be infected along with 20 nursing
mothers. By 2007 57 children had died of AIDS.
(SSFC, 4/1/07, p.A17)
1999 Feb, In Libya health
workers including 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were
arrested on charges they intentionally infected some 393 children
with the AIDS virus as part of an experiment to find a cure. The
defendants were tortured daily for their 1st 3 months of captivity.
On May 6, 2004, the nurses and doctor were sentenced to death.
(www.wsws.org/articles/2004/sep2004/liby-s02.shtml)(AP,
5/6/04)(SSFC, 6/6/04, E3)
1999 Apr 5, Libya handed over
to UN officials 2 men accused in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight
103. They were then flown to the Hague to be tried under Scottish
law. UN Sec. Gen'l. Kofi Annan immediately suspended economic
sanctions on Libya.
(SFC, 4/6/99, p.A1)(SFC, 4/6/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
4/6/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 18, Pres. Kabila of
Congo and Ugandan Pres. Museweni signed a cease-fire agreement that
was mediated by Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi. Rwanda and Congolese
rebels rejected the deal.
(SFC, 5/29/99, p.A11)
1999 Apr 28, The US announced
that it would allow US firms to sell food and medicine to Iran,
Sudan and Libya.
(SFC, 4/29/99, p.A3)
1999 Jun 11, The US and Libya
engaged in their first official meeting in 18 years. The US
stipulated conditions to be met prior to the lifting of sanctions.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A13)
1999 Jun 13, In South Africa
Pres. Mandela welcomed visiting Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi as his
last official guest. Ghadafi was on his first foreign tour since
sanctions were lifted in April.
(SFC, 6/14/99, p.A13)
1999 Jun 21, It was reported
that Libya would pay $40 million to the families of those killed in
the Sep 19, 1989 bombing of a French jet.
(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A12)
1999 Jul 7, Britain and Libya
announced a resumption of diplomatic relations.
(SFC, 7/8/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 27, The US eased
sanctions against Iran, Libya and Sudan to allow the sale of food,
medicine and medical equipment.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A5)
1999 Sep 6, In Libya Moammar
Ghadafi unveiled plans for a new, safe, 5-passenger "Rocket of the
Jamahariya" automobile.
(SFC, 9/8/99, p.A16)
1999 Nov 24, In Britain
authorities intercepted Scud missile components labeled as auto
parts originating in Taiwan and destined for Libya.
(SFC, 1/10/00, p.A10)
1999 Dec 1, Prime Minister
Massimo D'Alema of Italy began a 2-day visit that involved a $5.5
billion oil and gas project involving ENI, an Italian oil company.
It was the 1st visit by a Western head of government since sanctions
in 1992.
(SFC, 12/2/99, p.D2)
1999 Algeria, Libya and
Tunisia agreed to share the northwest Sahara aquifer system (NWSAS).
(Econ, 10/9/10, p.87)(http://tinyurl.com/25w5boa)
2000 Jan 13, A Swiss Shorts
300-360 airplane carrying Libyan oil workers to a refinery at Marsa
el-Brega crashed off the Libya coast and at least 15 of 41 people
were killed.
(SFC, 1/14/00, p.D2)(WSJ, 1/14/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar, Col. Gadhafi ordered
the abolition of a dozen ministries and the supposed transfer of
their power to the grass roots.
(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)
2000 Aug 29, In Libya 6 former
hostages held captive in the Philippines arrived to thank Moammar
Ghadafi for his role in securing their release.
(SFC, 8/30/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 8, In the Philippines
Abu Sayyaf rebels freed 4 more hostages held since April 23. Libya
paid a reported $1 million per hostage.
(SFC, 9/9/00, p.A10)(SFEC, 9/10/00, p.C15)
2000 Oct 5, Nigerians from
Libya arrived home on repatriation flights and bore tales of a
pogrom by youths resentful of economic immigrants.
(WSJ, 10/6/00, p.A1)
2001 Jan 4, It was reported
that Africans from Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Congo
had resumed treks across the Sahara to Libya for better economic
conditions.
(SFC, 1/5/01, p.A18)
2001 Jan 31, In the Netherlands
a Scottish court sentenced Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan
intelligence officer, to life in a Scottish prison for the 1998
bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. A second Libyan was acquitted.
(SFC, 1/31/01, p.A11)(SFC, 2/1/01, p.A1)(WSJ,
2/1/01, p.A1)(AP, 12/19/03)
2001 May 30, Libya flew troops
and weapons to the Central African Republic to help Pres. Patasse to
put down a coup attempt.
(WSJ, 5/31/01, p.A1)
2001 In 2004 the UN gathered
evidence suggesting the North Korea supplied Libya with nearly 2
tons of uranium in 2001.
(WSJ, 5/24/04, p.A1)
2002 May 28, Libya offered $10
million in compensation for each victim in the 1988 bombing of Pan
Am Flight 103 in exchange for removal from the US list of states
that sponsor terrorism.
(SFC, 5/29/02, p.A1)
2002 May 29, Libya denied that
it had any relationship to the deal made by lawyers to pay $2.7
billion to the families of Pan Am Flight 103 victims. The move was
seen as a ploy and a settlement was expected soon.
(SFC, 5/30/02, p.A10)
2002 Aug 7, The first British
Cabinet minister to visit this country in two decades met with
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, saying Libya was making a serious
attempt to move away from its international pariah status.
(AP, 8/7/02)
2002 Oct 24, Libya has decided
to withdraw from the Arab League, Moammar Gadhafi's government
announced.
(AP, 10/24/02)
2002 Dec 28, Libyan soldiers
ended a yearlong deployment to protect the Central African Republic
government against a string of coup attempts. They were to be
replaced by troops from Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Cameroon, Gabon and Mali.
(AP, 12/31/02)
2003 Jan 20, The U.N. human
rights watchdog elected a Libyan diplomat as its president for this
year, despite concern from the United States about the country's
poor record on civil liberties and its alleged role in sponsoring
terrorism.
(AP, 1/20/03)
2003 Apr 30, Libyan Foreign
Minister Abdel Rahman Shalqam said his government accepted
responsibility for the 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over
Lockerbie, Scotland.
(SFC, 5/1/03, A7)
2003 Aug 13, Libya agreed to
set up a $2.7 billion fund for families of 270 people killed in the
1988 Pan Am bombing.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2003 Aug 31, Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi said a second agreement over compensation has been
reached between his country and the families of 170 victims of a
French airliner that exploded in 1989.
(AP, 9/1/03)
2003 Sep 12, The UN Security
Council lifted 11-year-old sanctions on Libya after Moammar
Gadhafi's government took responsibility for bombing a Pan Am jet
over Scotland and agreed to pay the victims' families $2.7 billion.
(AP, 9/12/03)
2003 Sep 24, Families of people
killed when US jets bombed Libya urged Tripoli to suspend payments
to relatives of the victims of the 1988 downing of a Pan Am airliner
until they receive compensation from the United States.
(AP, 9/24/03)
2003 Oct 4, A shipment of
uranium-enriching centrifuge gear was seized at the Italian port of
Taranto in 2003, forcing Libya to admit and eventually renounce its
efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. In 2009 Urs Tinner, suspected of
involvement in the world's biggest nuclear smuggling ring, said in a
Swiss TV documentary that he tipped off US intelligence about a
delivery of centrifuge parts meant for Libya's nuclear weapons
program.
(http://articles.latimes.com/2004/nov/28/world/fg-network28)(WSJ,
12/31/03, p.A1)(AP, 1/22/09)
2003 Dec 19, Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi, after secret negotiations with the United States
and Britain, agreed to halt his nation's drive to develop nuclear
and chemical weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them.
Libya admitted to nuclear fuel projects, including possessing
centrifuges and centrifuge parts used in uranium enrichment. Libya
showed American and British inspectors a significant quantity of
mustard agent. Libya acknowledged it intended to acquire equipment
and develop capabilities to create biological weapons. Libya
admitted "elements of the history of its cooperation with North
Korea" to develop extended-range Scud missiles.
(AP, 12/19/03)(AP, 12/20/03)
2003 Dec 28, A team led by U.N.
nuclear chief Mohammed ElBaradei toured 4 atomic facilities in Libya
and found dismantled equipment. ElBaradei said Libya appeared to
reach only an experimental level in its attempts to enrich uranium,
essential for a nuclear bomb.
(AP, 12/29/04)
2003 Libya planned a covert
operation to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
according to 2004 testimony by 2 jailed participants.
(SFC, 6/10/04, A10)
2004 Jan 5, Pres. Bush extended
a 1986 order of sanctions against Libya.
(WSJ, 1/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 8, Libya agreed to
compensate family members of victims of a 1989 bombing of a French
passenger plane over the Niger desert that killed 170 people.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2004 Jan 9, Libya signed a $170
million compensation accord with families of people who died in the
1989 bombing of a French jetliner.
(AP, 1/9/04)
2004 Jan 14, A UN agency said
Libya has ratified the nuclear test ban treaty. The treaty is 12
nations short of the 44 ratifications needed for it to enter into
force. Once it comes into force, the treaty bans any nuclear weapon
test explosion in any environment.
(AP, 1/14/04)
2004 Feb 10, Italian Premier
Silvio Berlusconi met with Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi, and the
United States said it had restored diplomatic contacts with the
country. In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks with the
Libyan foreign minister.
(AP, 2/10/04)
2004 Feb 26, The US lifted a
long-standing ban on travel to Libya after Moammar Gadhafi's
government affirmed that it was responsible for the bombing of Pan
Am flight 103 in 1988.
(AP, 2/26/04)
2004 Mar 5, Libya acknowledged
stockpiling 44,000 pounds of mustard gas and disclosed the location
of a production plant in a declaration submitted to the world's
chemical weapons watchdog.
(AP, 3/5/04)
2004 Mar 25, British PM Tony
Blair and Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi greeted each other with
smiles and handshakes in a meeting that marked a major step back
into the international mainstream for the North African state.
(AP, 3/25/04)
2004 Mar, The US CIA worked
closely with Moammar Gadhafi's intelligence services in the
rendition of terror suspects to Libya for interrogation as revealed
by documents uncovered in 2011. The documents appear to be American
correspondence to Libyan officials to arrange for the rendition of
Abdel-Hakim Belhaj (nom de guerre, Abdullah al-Sadiq), a leader of
the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) with links to al-Qaida.
Belhadj later claimed to have been tortured by CIA agents at a
secret prison, then returned to Libya.
(AP, 9/3/11)(Econ, 9/10/11, p.62)
2004 Apr 18, In Libya Moammar
Gadhafi called for the abolition of Libya's three decade-old
exceptional courts and other strict laws criticized by human rights
groups.
(AP, 4/18/04)
2004 Apr 27, Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi arrived in Brussels, his first trip to Europe in 15
years. Gadhafi sought "full normalization" of relations and entry to
the aid and trade program the EU runs with countries around the
Mediterranean, including Israel.
(AP, 4/27/04)
2004 May 6, A Libyan court
sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death on
charges they intentionally infected some 393 children with the AIDS
virus as part of an experiment to find a cure. 9 Libyan health
workers were acquitted. Under Libyan law, death sentences generate
an automatic 60-day period for appeal.
(AP, 5/6/04)(SSFC, 6/6/04, E3)
2004 May 13, Libya agreed to
halt military trade with North Korea, Syria and Iran.
(WSJ, 5/14/04, p.A1)
2004 May 28, Malaysia issued a
detention order for Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, a Sri Lankan businessman,
on charges that in 2002 he brought 7 Libyan technicians to Malaysia
to be trained to operate machines to produce centrifuge parts for
Libya’s nuclear weapons program. Tahir was a key associate of Abdul
Qadeer Khan, former head of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program.
(WSJ, 6/4/04, p.A10)
2004 Jun 16, Libyan Arab
Airline announced plans to spend a billion dollars over the next
decade to buy 22 new aircraft, ranging from 14-seaters to jets with
a capacity of 350 seats.
(AP, 6/16/04)
2004 Jun 28, America resumed
direct diplomatic ties with Libya after a 24-year break.
(USAT, 6/29/04, p.12A)(AP, 6/28/05)
2004 Jul 4, It was reported
that Libya's state-owned Tam Oil Co has bought the Niger unit of US
oil major ExxonMobil Corp, in the first such deal following an end
to US sanctions on Tripoli.
(AP, 7/4/04)
2004 Jul 30, Abdurahman
Alamoudi pleaded guilty in a Virginia court to moving cash from
Libya and involvement in a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Prince
Abdullah.
(SFC, 7/31/04,
p.A3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Rahman_al-Amoudi)
2004 Aug 10, Libya agreed to
pay $35 million to the non-US victims of the 1986 Berlin disco
bombing. Libya's Kadhafi Foundation, which negotiated the terms of a
compensation deal for victims of the bombing, demanded compensation
from the United States for subsequent air strikes against the north
African country.
(AP, 8/10/04)(WSJ, 8/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 3, Libya signed an
agreement to pay a total of $35 million US in compensation for 168
non-U.S. victims of a 1986 Berlin disco bombing.
(AP, 9/3/04)
2004 Sep 19, President George
W. Bush has decided to lift sanctions against Libya, which he
expects to trigger release of more than $1 billion US to families of
Pan Am 103 victims.
(AP, 9/20/04)
2004 Sep 22, The European Union
agreed in principle to lift an arms embargo on Libya after pressure
from Italy.
(AP, 9/22/04)
2004 Oct 10, Libyan officials
said police have arrested 17 non-Libyans suspected of being al-Qaida
members who entered this North African country illegally.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 11, The European Union
ended 11 years of sanctions against Libya and eased an arms embargo
to reward the North African country for giving up plans to develop
weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 14, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder arrived in Libya for an official visit during
which he is to hold talks with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 15, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi clashed over Iraq
during their first-ever meeting in Tripoli while German business
leaders touted for business in the oil-rich former pariah state.
Schroeder praised the reforms of Muammar Gaddafi and invited the
Libyan leader to visit Germany.
(AP, 10/15/04)(Reuters, 10/15/04)
2004 Nov 1, Libya’s PM Shukri
Ghanem said he intends to abolish some five billion dollars worth of
subsidies on electricity, fuel and basic food items in a move to
liberalize the economy.
(AFP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 24, President Jacques
Chirac arrived in Libya in the first ever visit by a French head of
state.
(AP, 11/24/04)
2004 Nov 25, French President
Jacques Chirac set aside years of acrimony over the bombing of a
French passenger jet in the 1980s and declared a "new chapter" in
relations with Libya.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Dec 7, Libya listed three
conditions under which it is prepared to drop charges against five
Bulgarian nurses condemned to death on suspect charges of spreading
AIDS.
(AFP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 8, Saif al-Islam
Gadhafi (30), son of leader Moammar Gadhafi, said Libya will soon
pass new laws that limit capital punishment to a small number of
crimes. Saif was currently enrolled in a doctoral program in
governance at the London School of Economics.
(SFC, 12/9/04, p.A3)(SSFC, 9/23/07, p.A22)
2004 Dec 14, PM Shukri Ghanem
said Libya is planning to open up its banking sector to Arab
investors and is to privatize two major government banks.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 15, Libya said its
Central Bank has withdrawn $1 billion of assets which had been
frozen for almost two decades in the United States on Washington's
orders.
(Reuters, 12/15/04)
2004 Dec 19, Canada’s PM Paul
Martin met Moammar Gadhafi, the latest in a string of world leaders
to visit Tripoli following the Libyan strongman's renunciation of
terrorism. Martin said Canadian construction company SNC-Lavalin has
won a $1 billion contract to help build a major water distribution
system in Libya.
(AP, 12/19/04)(Reuters, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 22, Saudi Arabia
announced it was withdrawing its ambassador to Libya and ordered out
Libya's envoy in response to reports that Tripoli plotted to
assassinate the Saudi crown prince.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Malawi Pres. Bingu wa
Mutharika closed the country’s embassy in Libya soon after his
election.
(AFP, 12/23/07)
2005 Jan 4, Polish PM Marek
Belka arrived in Tripoli for a two-day visit that will include talks
on cooperation in the oil sector and a meeting with Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi.
(AFP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 29, Libya granted its
first oil exploration licenses in over four decades, awarding 15
permits to foreign companies, with US companies taking the lion's
share. PM Shukri Ghanem said Libya has opted for a policy of open
communication with total transparence."
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Feb 8, Officials said
Italian real estate services company Norman 95 has won a
300-million-euro (384-million-dollar) contract to develop a luxury
holiday resort on the Libyan coast.
(AFP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 11, The US State
Department said Libyan diplomats can travel freely in the US.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 18, Libya refused to
extend the deadline of the Lockerbie compensation deal in a possible
bid to pressure Washington to drop it from the U.S. list of state
sponsors of terrorism.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi and Egyptian Pres. Hosni Mubarak backed an African
solution to the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region during 2 rounds of
talks in Cairo.
(AFP, 2/19/05)
2005 Mar 3, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi issued a call for economic liberalization in the
North African state.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 May 17, Eritrean President
Issaias Afeworki met with Sudan Pres. Omar al-Beshir in Tripoli,
Libya. Beshir demanded that Eritrea refrain from harboring armed
Sudanese opposition and stops offering assistance to that
opposition.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 May 21, In Libya reporter
Daif al-Ghazal (32) was taken from the northern city of Benghazi by
armed men and taken to an unknown location. His body was found a
week later.
(AP, 6/5/05)
2005 May 23, Morocco's king
pulled out of the first North African summit in more than a decade,
over Algeria's latest comments in a long-running dispute over
independence for Western Sahara. Moroccan King Mohammed VI will be
represented at the two-day summit in Tripoli, Libya, by Morocco's
foreign minister, Mohamed Benaissa.
(AP, 5/23/05)
2005 May 28, Bulgarian
President Georgi Parvanov flew Tripoli to meet with Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi, days before a Libyan court rules on the appeal of
five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death over an AIDS-tainted blood
scandal.
(Reuters, 5/27/05)
2005 Jun 7, A Libyan court
acquitted 9 police officers and a doctor accused of torturing six
foreign medics sentenced to death for allegedly infecting children
with HIV.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jul 4, In Libya Moammar
Gadhafi called on African nations to stop "begging" during the
opening of an African summit attended by more than 50 leaders from
this crisis-wracked continent. African Union (AU) chairman Olusegun
Obasanjo called on rich nations to provide "massive" financial help
rather than sympathy in its fight against poverty at their summit in
Scotland this week. UN Sec-Gen. Kofi Annan announced the creation of
a fund to promote democratic institutions and practices around the
world, an idea first proposed by the Pres. Bush in Sep 2004.
(AP, 7/4/05)(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Aug 17, Libya called on
the Bulgarian government to negotiate a payment to win amnesty for
five Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian sentenced to death for
allegedly infecting 400 children with the AIDS virus.
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 20, Libya will free
131 political prisoners, including members of the Muslim
Brotherhood, said Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi, who heads a foundation dedicated to improving the country's
image.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2005 Sep 1, Libyan authorities
pardoned 1,675 Libyan and foreign prisoners serving time for minor
crimes to mark the 36th anniversary of the revolution, which brought
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to power.
(AP, 9/3/05)
2005 Sep 17, US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice told Libya the US was committed to closer
relations with its former enemy, which promised to work harder to
fight terrorism.
(AP, 9/17/05)
2005 Sep 28, President George
W. Bush waived some defense export restrictions on Libya to allow
U.S. companies to participate in destroying Tripoli's chemical
weapons and to refurbish eight transport planes.
(Reuters, 9/28/05)
2005 Oct 2, Libya awarded 44
oil exploration permits to predominantly Asian and European
companies after a first batch was awarded earlier this year mainly
to American firms.
(AFP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 2, Portuguese Prime
Minister Jose Socrates met Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in Tripoli,
as Libya continues its bid to warm relations with the West.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 17, Libyan Foreign
Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam rejected a call by US President George
W. Bush for Tripoli to spare the lives of five Bulgarian nurses
sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of Libyan children with
the AIDS virus.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Dec 23, Bulgaria and Libya
agreed to set up a special fund for AIDS-infected children in Libya,
where five Bulgarian nurses face the death penalty after being
convicted of causing the infections.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2005 Dec 25, Libya's Supreme
Court scrapped death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor and ordered a retrial of the cases which have
harmed Tripoli's efforts to build ties with the West.
(Reuters, 12/25/05)
2005 Dec 29, Three U.S. oil
companies said they will end a 19-year absence in Libya and pay
$1.83 billion to resume oil production.
(AP, 12/29/05)
2006 Jan 2, More than 130
Libyan political prisoners, mostly members of the banned opposition
Muslim Brotherhood group, started a hunger strike in a Tripoli
prison, saying the government broke its promise to release them.
(AP, 1/3/06)
2006 Jan 21, The families of
426 HIV-infected Libyan children asked for $12 million in
compensation for each child as part of efforts to resolve the case
of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor charged with
intentionally infecting the children.
(AP, 1/22/06)
2006 Jan 27, Libya said it is
heading toward allowing private newspapers, radio and television
news in what has been a state-controlled media environment for more
than 30 years.
(AFP, 1/27/06)
2006 Feb 17, In Benghazi,
Libya, 11 people were killed or wounded during a riot at the Italian
consulate when police firing bullets and tear gas tried to contain
more than 1,000 demonstrators hurling rocks and bottles. The Libyans
were angry over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
(AFP, 2/18/06)(Econ, 3/26/11, p.32)
2006 Feb 18, Libya suspended
Nasr al-Mabrouk, its interior minister, citing an "excessive use of
force" in riots the day before that left at least 10 people dead in
the bloodiest protest yet against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons
roiling the Muslim world.
(AFP, 2/18/06)
2006 Feb 18, Italy's Reforms
Minister Roberto Calderoli resigned following deadly clashes in
Libya over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that he had made into
T-shirts and wore on state television.
(AP, 2/18/06)
2006 Mar 2, Libya released all
84 jailed members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement who had
been held since the late 1990s.
(AFP, 3/2/06)
2006 Mar 5, State TV said Libya
had named a new prime minister, Baghdadi Mahmudi, as part of a major
cabinet reshuffle. Mahmudi replaced former premier Shukri Ghanem,
who had held the post since 2003. Ghanem would no longer be part of
the cabinet but would head the state-owned Libya National Oil.
(AFP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 20, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi said Saddam Hussein should still be considered Iraq's
legal president and the current government illegitimate as it was
elected under an occupation regime.
(AFP, 3/20/06)
2006 Mar 21, A Kadhafi
Foundation official said Libya is to return properties confiscated
in the mid-1970s and pay compensation to their former owners, under
a cabinet decree.
(AFP, 3/21/06)
2006 Apr 15, In Libya US singer
Lionel Richie jived and rocked for an adoring audience in a concert
to mark the 20th anniversary of a US raid on the North African
country. Libya renewed a demand that Washington apologize and pay
compensation.
(AP, 4/15/06)(Reuters, 4/16/06)
2006 May 10, Taiwan's President
Chen Shui-bian made a surprise visit to Libya, after he turned down
an offer to make a refueling stop in Alaska in an apparent sign of
diplomatic pique.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2006 May 15, The United States
restored full diplomatic ties with Libya, rewarding the longtime
pariah nation for scrapping its weapons of mass destruction
programs.
(Reuters, 5/15/06)
2006 May 17, In Libya
Venezuela's anti-American president was given a warm welcome in
Tripoli by Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Chavez and Gadhafi planned to
discuss "social programs based on oil revenues."
(AP, 5/17/06)
2006 Jun 17, In Libya engineer
Ismail Al Khazmi (30) was arrested. He died from injuries while in
detention. A medical report dated November 15, 2006, said he had
died of natural causes from a heart attack. A 2nd autopsy, performed
by a committee of three forensic medical doctors on September 11,
2007, concluded that his death was injury induced… from blows with a
hard, blunt object of some sort. In 2010 the human rights groups
Alkarama, Trial and Human Rights Watch charged that an investigation
into his death was opened, but that it was blocked by General Saleh
Ragab, Libya's public security secretary.
(AFP, 11/20/10)(http://tinyurl.com/248e9wo)
2006 Jul 11, State Department
official Paula Dobriansky held talks with Libyan PM Baghdadi Mahmudi
and announced that the US has lifted sanctions on Libyan air
transport.
(AFP, 7/12/06)
2006 Jul 15, US Middle East
envoy David Welch flew into Tripoli for talks with Libyan officials
on strengthening economic and financial ties between the two
countries.
(AFP, 7/16/06)
2006 Sep 2, A small boat of
African migrants from Eritrea was intercepted off the coast of
Sicily. They said eight people died during their grueling trip. They
had left from Libya 10-12 days earlier.
(AP, 9/3/06)
2006 Sep 14, Libya's population
grew by 1.8% per year to 5.3 million in 2006 from 1995. A rare
government census showed that Libya had also cut its illiteracy rate
to 11.9% from 19% a decade ago.
(Reuters, 9/14/06)
2006 Oct 10, The government of
Libya reached an agreement with One Laptop per Child, an American
nonprofit group, to provide inexpensive laptop computers to all of
its schoolchildren. The $250 million deal would provide the nation
with 1.2 million computers, a server in each school, a team of
technical advisers, satellite internet service and other
infrastructure.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 16, Egypt's President
Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi held talks on how to
resolve the Darfur crisis in Sudan without intervention from outside
Africa.
(AFP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 29, Libya took
delivery of a Boeing jetliner for the first time in 30 years after
the privately owned Buraq Air airline bought six of the US-made
aircraft.
(AFP, 10/28/06)
2006 Nov 5, In Libya Idrees
Mohammed Boufayed (49), a vocal critic of Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi's regime, was detained after being summoned to the internal
security agency. The doctor, who had lived in Switzerland for 16
years, returned from exile in September to develop the National
Union for Reform opposition party he founded 18 months ago.
(AFP, 12/4/06)
2006 Nov 15, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi received assurances from German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier that Berlin would work to bolster ties with
Tripoli when it assumes the EU presidency next year.
(AFP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 21, Arab and African
leaders in Libya agreed to work together to end the crisis in the
Darfur region of Sudan.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Dec 11, The Hague-based
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it
has granted the US and Russia a five-year extension to the 2007
deadline for destroying their chemical weapon stockpiles. The
Chemicals Weapons Convention which went into effect in April 1997.
Extensions were also granted to India and Libya as well as one
country that requested anonymity.
(AP, 12/11/06)
2006 Dec 19, A Libya court
convicted five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor of
deliberately infecting 400 children with HIV and sentenced them to
death, despite scientific evidence the youngsters had the virus
before the medical workers came to Libya. The verdict, which will be
automatically referred to Libya's Supreme Court, drew quick
condemnation from European nations. The six later had their death
sentences commuted, and were transferred to Bulgaria, where they
were pardoned and set free.
(AP, 12/19/06)(AP, 12/19/07)
2006 Dec 24, Chad's president
and the leader of a rebel faction that tried to oust him earlier
this year signed a peace accord in Libya, but other Chadian
insurgents dismissed the deal and vowed to fight on.
(Reuters, 12/24/06)
2006 Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi lifted a ban on Berber names.
(Econ, 8/13/11, p.44)
2007 Jan 25, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi chaired a meeting of African presidents and other
top officials to prepare for an African Union summit as conflicts
rage on the continent.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 29, Libya will not
execute five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to
death last month, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said in a
newspaper interview, calling their trial "unfair."
(AP, 1/29/07)
2007 Feb 2, Abdoulaye Miskine,
the head of one of the Central African Republic's main rebel groups,
inked in Libya a peace deal described as "historic" by the
government. Under the deal, which CAR's other main rebel factions
are expected to sign up to, there will be an immediate ceasefire and
Miskine's rebels will be integrated into civilian life or absorbed
into the army. Rebel prisoners are to be freed.
(AFP, 2/3/07)
2007 Feb 12, Police conducted
raids across northern Italy, breaking up a leftist militant group
that was allegedly planning kidnappings or kneecappings of victims
to finance its plots. The group traced back to the Red Brigades.
Police said they arrested 15 suspects accused of belonging to the
Politico-military Communist Party (PCPM) in Milan, Turin, Padua and
other northern Italian cities. Police in 7 locations across Italy
arrested 17 men, including four alleged arms traffickers: Massimo
Bettinotti (39), Gianluca Squarzolo (39), Ermete Moretti (55), and
Serafino Rossi (64). A 5th member, Vittorio Dordi, was believed to
be in Congo, apparently involved in the diamond trade. The luggage
of Squarzolo had yielded the original clue to the arms deal. They
were involved in a $64 million deal negotiated with Libyan officials
for some 500,000 Chinese-made assault rifles. Iraqi and Italian
partners had haggled over shipping more than 100,000 Russian-made
automatic weapons into Iraq.
(AP, 2/12/07)(Econ, 2/17/07, p.54)(AP,
8/13/07)(WSJ, 12/13/07, p.A18)(AP, 4/12/08)
2007 Feb 21, At a regional
meeting in Libya the leaders of Sudan and Chad said they agreed to
redouble efforts to end violence spilling over their border from
Darfur.
(Reuters, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 25, It was reported
that Libya, 30 years after officially proclaiming itself socialist,
is gradually opening up its banking system with a string of
privatizations in the works and the establishment of foreign banks.
In late January, the Central Bank of Libya announced its intention
to sell a minority stake in one of the north African country's five
state-owned commercial banks, Sahara Bank, to a "leading
international financial institution."
(AFP, 2/25/07)
2007 Mar 2, Moammar Gadhafi
said in an unusual debate that it was time for his long-isolated
nation to open up to the world and that one day Libya won't need him
as leader. Still, he insisted that the ruling ideology he has
entrenched here for three decades is superior to Western democracy.
(AP, 3/2/07)
2007 Apr 4, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi urged Africa to form a unified continental army to
defend its interests. He said former colonial powers should pay
compensation for the raw materials they had extracted.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 7, Libya’s
foreign-exchange reserves were estimated at $56 billion. The
population was reported to be about 5.6 million.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.46)
2007 Apr 20, Libya's National
Oil Corporation and US firm Dow Chemical announced a joint venture
to operate and expand the Ras Lanuf petrochemical complex in Libya.
(AFP, 4/20/07)
2007 May 12, Yemen said it was
recalling its ambassadors to Iran and Libya over what it sees as
their support for Shi'ite Muslim rebels involved in bloody clashes
with government forces. The government of Sunni-dominated Yemen
accused the rebels of seeking to oust its secular administration and
install Islamist rule.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 27, A Libyan court
acquitted 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian medic of charges of
slandering policemen by protesting that their confessions had been
extracted under torture.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 29, Libya said it will
sign a 900 million dollar exploration deal with energy giant BP,
which plans to return after a 33 year absence. British PM Tony Blair
arrived in Libya and welcomed improved relations as oil companies
from both countries signed a major deal.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 Jun 2, The Comoros and
Guinea joined the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) at a
summit of the nine-year-old African grouping in Libya, raising its
membership to 25 countries.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 3, In Libya African
leaders sought to reconcile differences between neighbors Chad and
Sudan over Darfur and boost Somalia's embattled transitional
government at a regional summit.
(AFP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 6, Los Angeles based
Colony Capital LLC, private investment firm, said it has agreed to
buy a controlling stake in Libyan state-owned Tamoil in a deal that
valued the Italy-based refiner at 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion),
double earlier estimates. Colony, founded in 1991 by Thomas Barrack,
focuses on real estate-related assets, securities, and operating
companies. In March, 2008, the deal was reported to be off.
(Reuters, 6/6/07)(Reuters, 3/3/08)
2007 Jun 8, It was reported
that Libya, citing cost and liability concerns, has informed the
United States of plans to back out of a contract to destroy its
mustard gas stocks as promised under a landmark 2003 agreement.
(Reuters, 6/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, Libya invited
international tenders for exploration of its onshore and offshore
gas fields covering an area almost the size of Scotland.
(AP, 7/9/07)
2007 Jul 10, The Gaddafi
Foundation charity said it has reached an accord with the families
of HIV-infected Libyan children that ends the crisis of the
Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for infecting them.
(Reuters, 7/10/07)
2007 Jul 11, Libya's Supreme
Court upheld the death sentences of five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting more than 400 children
with the AIDS virus. But the verdict may not be the final word in
the case.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2007 Jul 15, A Libyan
foundation confirmed that families of Libyan children infected with
AIDS have accepted compensation topping 460 million dollars, which
could lead to a death sentence on six foreign medics being lifted.
(AFP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, UN and African
Union representatives gathered in Tripoli to evaluate Darfur.
(AP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 17, Libya's foreign
minister said the death sentences for five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children
with HIV have been commuted to life in prison. The ruling came after
the families of the children each received $1 million and agreed to
drop their demand for the execution of the six.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Jul 24, Five Bulgarian
nurses and a Palestinian doctor, sentenced to life in prison in
Libya for allegedly infecting children with HIV, came home to
Bulgaria and were greeted with tears and hugs, and a presidential
pardon that allowed them to walk free after 8 1/2 years behind bars.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Qatar mediated the release and
hinted the Gulf country may have had a broader role in resolving the
crisis.
(AP, 7/24/07)
2007 Jul 25, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy headed for talks with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi,
a day after the release of six foreign medics, in a signal of
normalized ties between Europe and Tripoli. France and Libya signed
a memorandum of understanding to build a Libyan nuclear reactor for
water desalination and clinched a raft of other deals.
(AP, 7/25/07)(AFP, 7/25/07)
2007 Jul 28, Libya said the
Czech Republic, Qatar and Bulgaria contributed to an international
fund to support hundreds of children who contracted HIV at a Libyan
hospital in the 1990s. Libya also denounced a decision by Bulgaria's
president to pardon six medics from life jail terms in an AIDS case
as a "betrayal" and an "illegal procedure."
(Reuters, 7/28/07)(AFP, 7/28/07)
2007 Aug 2, A Libyan official
said that Moammar Gadhafi's long-isolated country has signed
contracts worth $405 million with French companies for missiles and
communications equipment.
(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 2, Bulgaria said it
had decided to write off Libya's communist-era debt as a
contribution to an international fund for the victims of an AIDS
epidemic blamed by Tripoli on six Bulgarian medics.
(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Sep 3, Bulgaria donated
$56.6 million in Soviet-era debt owned by Libya as its contribution
to a deal that led to the release of 6 medics convicted of infecting
Libyan children with HIV.
(AP, 9/3/07)
2007 Oct 16, Libya, a former
pariah state condemned by the U.S. as a sponsor of terrorism, won a
seat on the UN Security Council without opposition from the Bush
administration.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2007 Nov 3, Al-Qaida's No. 2
figure harshly criticized Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in a new
audio tape, accusing him of being an enemy of Islam and threatening
a wave of attacks against the North African country because it
improved relations with the US.
(AP, 11/3/07)
2007 Nov 11, Libya began
enforcing new regulations demanding an Arabic translation of
passports for visitors. A Libyan aviation official said the measures
were in response to a decision to prevent Libyans with visas for the
EU's Schengen border-free zone from entering certain European
countries, notably France and Britain.
(AFP, 11/12/07)
2007 Nov 17, Mauritanian
President Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi met Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi at the start of visit to Tripoli aimed at boosting relations
after years of tension.
(AFP, 11/17/07)
2007 Dec 10, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi arrived on his first visit to France in 34 years,
sparking protests from rights groups and criticism from the
government's own human rights minister. Gadhafi got straight to
business, cutting $14.7 billion in deals for arms and nuclear
reactors on his first official visit to the West since renouncing
terrorism and atomic weapons.
(AFP, 12/10/07)(AP, 12/11/07)
2007 Dec 10, Petro-Canada,
Canada's third largest oil and gas company, signed a $7 billion deal
with Libya's state-run National Oil Corp. to invest in exploration
in the North African nation.
(AP, 12/10/07)
2007 Dec 12, Ashraf Juma Hajuj,
the Palestinian-born doctor held with five Bulgarian nurses in a
Libyan prison for over eight years, filed suit in Paris against
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi for torture. The six medics, who always
maintained their innocence, said they were subjected to torture,
including beatings, electric shocks, food and sleep deprivation, and
even sexual abuse, in order to confess to their alleged crime.
(AFP, 12/13/07)
2007 Dec 13, In the Philippines
leaders of 2 separatist groups met with Seif al-Islam Khadafy, son
of Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy, and said they should be able to
resolve differences that dated back to 1976 when the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front broke from the Moro National Liberation Front.
(SFC, 12/15/07, p.A9)
2007 Dec 16, Spanish
construction group BTP Sacyr Vallehermoso said it had created a
joint company with the Libyan government to bid for infrastructure
contracts there.
(AP, 12/16/07)
2007 Dec 23, Media reported
that Malawi has asked Libya to close its mission in Lilongwe. The
Mutharika administration had suspicions that Libya funds Muluzi's
United Democratic Front, which is seeking to unseat Mutharika in
elections in 2009.
(AFP, 12/23/07)
2007 Libya’s Col Gadhafi
established the Libyan Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund
with $50 billion slotted for investment.
(WSJ, 5/21/08, p.A14)
2008 Jan 1, Libya took over the
rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in a major step back
to global respectability after decades as a pariah of the West.
(AP, 1/1/08)
2008 Jan 3, Libya's foreign
minister declared an end to confrontation with the US in a rare
visit to Washington by a top Libyan diplomat aimed at cementing ties
between the former foes.
(AP, 1/4/08)
2008 Jan 18, Libya defended
plans to carry out a massive expulsion of illegal immigrants,
rejecting criticism from a human rights group that doing so would
violate international law.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 26, A security chief
for Sunni tribesmen who rose up against al-Qaida in Iraq said the
devastating explosion in northern Iraq was spearheaded by foreign
fighters under the sponsorship of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of the
Libyan leader.
(AP, 1/26/08)
2008 Feb 7, Libya’s National
Oil Corp and Indonesia signed a deal for the north African state to
supply the world's most populous Muslim nation with crude oil for
the next 20 years.
(AFP, 2/7/08)
2008 Apr 8, Libyan authorities
released 90 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a
group with suspected links to al-Qaida, after they renounced
violence.
(AP, 4/9/08)
2008 Apr 16, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi hailed Russian President Vladimir Putin's official
visit as "historic and strategic" during a state dinner at the Bab
Azizia palace.
(AFP, 4/17/08)
2008 Apr 17, Russian President
Vladimir Putin wrapped up his two-day visit with Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi by writing off $4.5 billion in Libyan debts in
exchange for multibillion-dollar deals for Russian companies.
(AP, 4/17/08)
2008 May 30, The US State
Department said the US and Libya have agreed to try to resolve
compensation claims from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and other
incidents Washington views as acts of terrorism by Libya.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2008 Jun 7, A boat carrying 150
African migrants en route to Europe sank off the Libyan coast. The
Libyan authorities later recovered 40 bodies. The Libyan government
informed the Egyptian government of the incident on June 13 because
they believe that 12 of the passengers were Egyptians.
(AFP, 6/16/08)
2008 Jul 15, In Switzerland
Hannibal Kadhafi (32), the son of Libya’s leader, was arrested along
with his wife Aline at a luxury hotel in Geneva after the servants,
a Moroccan and a Tunisian, alleged they had been abused by the
couple. The 2-day detention led to reprisals by Libya. Days after
Hannibal Kadhafi’s arrest, Swiss businessmen Max Goeldi and Rachid
Hamdani were detained in Libya on alleged visa violations. The
servants later dropped their legal complaints after receiving some
compensation. In November, 2009, Goeldi and Hamdani were handed over
to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli. Libya then announced that they
would go on trial on accusations of tax evasion and violating
residency laws.
(AP, 9/2/08)(AP, 11/9/09)(AP, 11/12/09)
2008 Jul 24, Libya said it will
halt fuel supplies to key oil client Switzerland in the latest
reprisal for last week's brief detention in Geneva of a son of
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
(AFP, 7/24/08)
2008 Jul 30, Alexander
Tsygankov, a Russian oil executive detained in Libya since last
November, was freed, hours before Russian PM Vladimir Putin was due
to host the country's prime minister.
(Reuters, 7/31/08)
2008 Jul 31, The US Congress
approved legislation that will allow the State Department to settle
all remaining lawsuits against Libya by US terrorism victims.
(AP, 7/31/08)
2008 Aug 4, President George W.
Bush signed into law legislation paving the way for Libya to pay
hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate US victims of bombing
attacks that Washington blames on Tripoli.
(Reuters, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 13, Bolivia and Libya
agreed to establish diplomatic relations and join efforts to develop
the nations' energy resources.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 14, Libya and the
United States settled all outstanding lawsuits by American victims
of terrorism, clearing the way for the full restoration of
diplomatic relations.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 18, Niger's Tuareg
rebel leader Aghaly ag Alambo said his fighters would lay down their
guns and, together with neighboring Mali's Tuareg rebellion, submit
to mediation by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
(AP, 8/19/08)
2008 Aug 21, Seif al-Islam
Gadhafi, the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, said he will no
longer be involved in politics, defying in a surprise announcement
long-held expectations he was preparing to succeed his father.
(AP, 8/22/08)
2008 Aug 27, Two hijackers, who
commandeered a jetliner from Sudan's Darfur region and diverted it
to a remote desert airstrip in southern Libya, surrendered after a
22-hour standoff.
(AP, 8/27/08)
2008 Aug 28, Libya announced an
amnesty for more than 3,000 prisoners, including Europeans and
Africans, to mark the 39th anniversary of Moamer Kadhafi's rule.
(AFP, 8/28/08)
2008 Aug 30, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi met in Libya to
sign a "friendship pact." Italy agreed to pay Libya US$5 billion as
compensation for its 30-year occupation of the country, which ended
in 1943. A provision stated that the parties commit themselves "not
to resort to threatening or using violence."
(Reuters, 8/30/08)(AP, 8/31/08)(AP, 2/27/11)
2008 Sep 5, US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice met Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, once
reviled as a "mad dog" by President Reagan, on a historic visit
which she said proved that Washington had no permanent enemies. John
Foster Dulles was the last US Secretary of State to visit Tripoli,
in May 1953.
(Reuters, 9/6/08)
2008 Oct 5, The United States
opened a trade office in Libya to boost economic ties with the
oil-rich state.
(AFP, 10/6/08)
2008 Oct 9, The Libyan oil
company Tamoil said the Libyan government has again decided to halt
oil deliveries to Switzerland.
(AFP, 10/9/08)
2008 Oct 10, The Libyan news
agency JANA said Libya will withdraw $7 billion of assets in Swiss
banks, cut economic ties with Switzerland and stop supplying it with
oil to protest against poor treatment of Libyan diplomats and
businessmen.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 31, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi, starting his first visit to post-Soviet Russia,
planned to discuss opening a Russian naval base in Libya to
counterbalance US interests in the region.
(AP, 10/31/08)
2008 Oct 31, Pres. Bush signed
an executive order restoring the Libyan government’s immunity from
terror-related lawsuits and dismissing pending compensation cases in
response to Libya’s payment of $1.5 billion into a fund to
compensate the families of victims the 1986 bombing of a German
disco and the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.
(SFC, 11/1/08, p.A3)
2008 Nov 2, Belarus President
Alexander Lukashenko greeted visiting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi
and said he hopes to boost ties between their countries.
(AP, 11/2/08)
2008 Nov 5, Libya's Moamer
Kadhafi met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in his
traditional Bedouin tent during a visit to Kiev expected to focus on
energy and military cooperation.
(AFP, 11/6/08)
2008 Nov 9, A Bahrain-based
Islamic investment bank unveiled plans for a five-billion-dollar
energy sector business hub at Sabratha, Libya.
(AFP, 11/9/08)
2008 Dec 1, The Israeli navy
turned away a Libyan ship heading to Gaza with 3,000 tons of
humanitarian aid, ending the most high-profile effort yet to break a
blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.
(AP, 12/1/08)
2008 Dec 30, Libya asked oil
companies to slash production by 270,000 barrels per day from Jan.
1, the latest such reduction by an OPEC member as the producer group
struggles to boost faltering oil prices.
(AP, 12/30/08)
2008 Libya exported some $46
billion worth of oil this year. Its population stood at about 6
million people.
(Econ, 8/22/09, p.41)
2009 Feb 1, The African Union's
12th summit opened in Ethiopia with an agenda officially focused on
infrastructure development. Leaders set aside the first day to
discuss Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's long-standing pet project to
establish a United States of Africa.
(AFP, 2/1/09)(Reuters, 2/1/09)
2009 Feb 2, In Ethiopia Libyan
leader Moamer Kadhafi was elected to head the 53-nation African
Union at a summit amid concerns over deadly unrest in Madagascar and
a bid to indict Sudan's president for war crimes.
(AFP, 2/2/09)
2009 Mar 10, Libya released
Jamal al-Haji and Faraj Humaid. They had been sentenced to prison in
2007 for planning a peaceful demonstration to commemorate protesters
who had died in clashes with police.
(SFC, 3/11/09, p.A2)
2009 Mar 26, Sudan's president
Omar al-Bashir visited his third country in four days, this time
touching down in Libya, the latest country to welcome the leader
who's wanted by an international court on war crimes.
(AP, 3/26/09)
2009 Mar 27, An overcrowded
boat packed with migrants capsized in stormy seas off the coast of
Libya. Only 20 survived when the wooden vessel with 257 people on
board, mostly African migrants, including 70 women and two children,
both of whom died, sunk only three hours off Libya.
(AP, 3/31/09)(AP, 4/1/09)
2009 Mar 29, A second boat with
about 350 migrants aboard was rescued safely off the coast of Libya.
(AP, 3/31/09)
2009 Mar 30, In Qatar Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi stormed out of an Arab summit after
denouncing the Saudi king and declaring himself "the dean of Arab
rulers."
(AP, 3/30/09)
2009 Apr 29, Britain and Libya
ratified a prisoner transfer deal that could potentially allow Abdel
Basset Ali al-Megrahi (57), the man convicted of the Lockerbie
bombings, to serve out the remainder of his sentence in the North
African country.
(AP, 4/29/09)
2009 May 1, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi held talks with visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali
Zardari on the situation in Pakistan and ways of bolstering ties
between the two nations. Pakistan and Libya signed a string of
agreements to bolster economic ties on the sidelines of Zardari’s
visit. The countries also decided to bolster ties in the fields of
banking, health, education, public works and construction.
(AFP, 5/1/09)(AFP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 11, A Libyan newspaper
reported that Ali Mohamed Abdelaziz al Fakhiri (46), also known as
Ibn Sheikh al-Libi, has killed himself in his Libyan jail cell. His
fabricated testimony about al Qaeda was used by the United States to
justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq. Captured by US-led forces in
Pakistan in the weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Fakhiri
later made up a story about links between al Qaeda and Iraq to avoid
torture while in the custody of Egypt, according to a 2006 US Senate
Intelligence Committee report. Fakhiri was extradited by the US to
Libya in 2006, when Tripoli authorities sentenced him to life
imprisonment. Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri later
accused Libya of torturing to death al Fakhiri.
(Reuters, 5/11/09)(Reuters, 10/4/09)
2009 May 21, Fathi al-Jahmi,
Libyan dissident and human rights activist repeatedly imprisoned in
Libya for defying the country's leader Moammar Gadhafi, died after
being released earlier this month to Jordan. He never regained
consciousness after having slipped into a coma following a stroke on
May 4 in a Libyan jail. He was sentenced to death in 2006 for
failing to recognize Gadhafi's authority, and remained behind bars
until his release to Jordan.
(AP, 5/22/09)
2009 May 26, Libya and Ukraine
signed deals to cooperate in both peaceful civilian nuclear energy
and in defense during a visit by Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko.
(AP, 5/27/09)
2009 Jun 10, Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi began his first visit to Italy with a warm embrace
from Premier Silvio Berlusconi, evidence of better ties between the
energy-rich desert nation and its former colonial ruler.
(AP, 6/10/09)
2009 Jun 15, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi sued three Moroccan newspapers for defamation,
seeking eight million euros in damages for "attacks on the dignity
of a head of state."
(AFP, 6/15/09)
2009 Jun 29, Three Moroccan
newspapers were ordered to pay a total of three million dirhams
(270,000 euros) to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who had sued them
for writing critical articles.
(AFP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jul 1, In Libya an African
Union summit opened.
(AP, 7/1/09)
2009 Jul 2, African heads of
state meeting in Libya discussed a drastic new decision against the
International Criminal Court that would in practice give Sudan's
president impunity from prosecution for war crimes by the ICC, a
draft document at the AU summit showed. Leaders also struggled to
overcome divisions on a proposed "African government", as Libyan
leader Moamer Kadhafi pressed for a powerful new continental
authority.
(AP, 7/2/09)(AFP, 7/2/09)
2009 Jul 3, In Libya
peacekeepers in Somalia and the war crimes warrant for Sudan's
president dominated the final day of an African Union summit, after
a late-night compromise on a new regional authority. Africa's
leaders agreed to denounce the International Criminal Court and
refuse to extradite Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who has been
indicted for crimes against humanity in Darfur.
(AFP, 7/3/09)(AP, 7/3/09)
2009 Jul 5, It was reported
that Libya suffering an outbreak of bubonic plague and that
neighboring countries, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, were
acting to prevent its spread across the borders.
(SSFC, 7/5/09, p.M3)
2009 Jul 30, A Libyan officials
said Libya and Canada have signed a memorandum of intent on nuclear
power. Since July 2007, Libya has signed three similar agreements
with France, Russia and Ukraine.
(AFP, 7/30/09)
2009 Aug 13, Scottish officials
said they were considering early release for the Lockerbie bomber,
leading to sharp debate among victims' relatives in the US and
Britain over whether he should be allowed to return home to Libya.
British media said Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi could soon be freed on
compassionate grounds because he is terminally ill with cancer.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 14, In Libya a
delegation of US senators led by John McCain met with Libya's leader
to discuss the possible delivery of non-lethal defense equipment.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 20, Kenny MacAskill,
Scotland’s justice secretary, freed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi (57),
former Libyan intelligence agent and alleged Lockerbie bomber (Dec
21, 1988), on compassionate grounds after eight years in jail
allowing him to go home to Libya to die. Al-Megrahi has terminal
prostate cancer and has been given less than three months to live.
In 2010 Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed for the Libyan
authorities, told The Sunday Times it was "embarrassing" that he had
outlived his three-month prognosis and that al-Megrahi could survive
for 10 years or longer.
(AP, 8/20/09)(Econ, 8/29/09, p.48)(AP, 7/03/10)
2009 Aug 20, Swiss President
Hans-Rudolf Merz and Libyan PM al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi signed an
accord pledging to restore relations between the two countries and
to have Hannibal Gadhafi July 15, 2008, arrest examined by a joint
arbitration tribunal in London. The next day Merz defended his
apology to Libya for the arrest of Moammar Gadhafi's son, saying it
was the only way to secure the release of two Swiss citizens
detained by Tripoli.
(AP, 8/21/09)
2009 Aug 30, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi laid the foundation
stone for an ambitious highway stretching along the entire Libyan
coast.
(AFP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 31, African leaders
gathered in Libya for a special summit to discuss the continent's
trouble spots, on the eve of celebrations to mark 40 years of Moamer
Kadhafi's rule.
(AFP, 8/31/09)
2009 Sep 6, British PM Gordon
Brown said he would support compensation claims against Libya by
families of IRA victims who say Tripoli helped to arm the
guerrillas.
(Reuters, 9/6/09)
2009 Sep 18, Canada-based oil
producer Verenex Energy Inc. agreed to be sold to the Libyan
Investment Authority for about $314.1 million Canadian ($293.7
million) in cash, after a better deal with a Chinese firm fell
through.
(AP, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 28, In Venezuela Pres.
Hugo Chavez and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi called for a new global
definition of terrorism. Meeting a day after the end of a summit of
African and South American leaders in Venezuela, the two men signed
a declaration urging a global conference be held to sketch out new
terms defining terrorism.
(Reuters, 9/28/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Italy Mohamed
Game (35), a Libyan, hurled a home-made bomb at the Santa Barbara
police barracks in Milan, losing his hand from the blast and
slightly wounding a policeman on duty outside. Game had lived in
Italy since 2003 and had never been a suspect. Italian police
detained two more suspects and found a large quantity of bomb-making
chemicals during overnight searches.
(AFP, 10/12/09)(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 15, Libya freed 88
Islamists with Al-Qaeda links from Abu Slim prison in Tripoli.
Lawyers said "45 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)
and 43 members of other jihadist groups were freed thanks to the
efforts of the Islamic Foundation," in a joint statement with the
Foundation, headed by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Seif
al-Islam.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 16, Libya's Oea
newspaper said Saif al-Islam, the reform-minded son of Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi, has been named overall coordinator of a grouping of
the country's most influential tribal, political and business
leaders.
(Reuters, 10/16/09)
2009 Nov 10, Libya signed an
agreement with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to join
forces to crack down on organized crime in the Maghreb region.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, A Libyan Foreign
Ministry official said Max Goeldi and Rachid Hamdani, Swiss
businessmen arrested in Libya amid a July, 2008, spat with
Switzerland involving leader Moammar Gadhafi's son, are to go on
trial on accusations of tax evasion and violating residency laws.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Dec 1, Libya sentenced two
Swiss businessmen to 16 months in prison and a fine, in a row
stemming from the arrest in Geneva last year of Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi's son.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 10, In Libya a
foundation run by Moamer Kadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, published a
new report cataloguing an array of cases of torture, wrongful
imprisonment and other abuses. The publication of the Kadhafi
Foundation's human rights report, its first since it was set up in
1999, came just two days before New York-based watchdog Human Rights
Watch is due to bring out its own report on Libya.
(AFP, 12/10/09)
2009 Dec 12, Human Rights Watch
announced a report saying Libya continues to subject political
dissidents to arbitrary detention and unfair trials despite limited
improvements in freedom of expression since the country began to
shed its pariah status in 2003.
(AP, 12/12/09)
2009 Dec 17, Hannibal Kadhafi,
the son of the Libyan leader, filed a civil lawsuit for "protection
of personality" against the Swiss canton of Geneva and a local
newspaper over the publication of police mugshots taken when he was
arrested in Switzerland in July, 2008.
(AFP, 12/23/09)
2010 Jan 28, Libyan Justice
Minister Mustafa Abdeljalil said he wants to resign because of
"hindrances" and his inability to secure freedom for hundreds of
prisoners who have been found innocent.
(AFP, 1/28/10)
2010 Jan 30, Russian PM
Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying that Libya has signed an arms
deal with Russia worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion).
(Reuters, 1/30/10)
2010 Jan 31, A Libyan appeal
court overturned a jail term slapped on Swiss businessman Rashid
Hamdani on a charge of overstaying his visa, easing a Tripoli-Bern
diplomatic spat.
(AFP, 1/31/10)
2010 Jan 31, In Ethiopia UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the AU's annual summit in
Addis Ababa and again failed to pledge peacekeepers for Somalia. Ban
Ki-Moon criticized power-grabs in Africa in a speech to the
continent's leaders as Libya's Moamer Kadhafi reluctantly handed
over the presidency of the African Union to Malawian President Bingu
wa Mutharika. The AU agreed to consider a Senegalese proposal to
resettle Haiti's earthquake homeless and possibly create a state for
them in Africa.
(Reuters, 1/31/10)(AFP, 1/31/10)(Reuters,
1/31/10)
2010 Feb 6, A Libyan court
ordered Max Goeldi, one of two Swiss men entangled in a diplomatic
row, to pay an 800-dollar fine for illegal business activities.
Fellow businessman Rashid Hamdani was cleared last week of charges
of overstaying his visa.
(AFP, 2/6/10)
2010 Feb 7, A Libyan court
dropped a case against Rashid Hamdani, a Swiss businessman for
alleged illegal business activities, clearing the way for him to go
home after 19 months stuck in the country.
(AFP, 2/7/10)
2010 Feb 11, A Libyan appeal
court reduced the 16-month jail sentence of Max Goeldi, a Swiss
businessman, for overstaying his visa to four months.
(AFP, 2/11/10)
2010 Feb 15, Libya suspended
the issuing of entry visas to European citizens apart from British
nationals. Italy's foreign ministry confirmed the measure and said
it was in retaliation for Switzerland's recent decision to publish a
blacklist of 180 Libyans banned from entering the country.
(Reuters, 2/15/10)
2010 Feb 22, In Libya Rashid
Hamdani, one of two Swiss businessmen held in Libya for 19 months
amid a diplomatic row between the two states, left for home as Max
Goeldi emerged from his country's embassy to serve 4 months in jail.
Goeldi was released on June 10 and prepared to fly home.
(AFP, 2/22/10)(AFP, 6/11/10)
2010 Feb 25, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi turned up the heat in his country's dispute with
Switzerland, calling for jihad over a recent Swiss ban on the
construction of minarets.
(AFP, 2/26/10)
2010 Mar 23, In Libya Seif
al-Islam Gadhafi said 34 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting
Group, including its leader, were sent home after they affirmed they
had broken ties with the organization. The group is suspected of
having links to al-Qaida.
(AP, 3/24/10)
2010 Mar 24, In Libya some 200
former Islamist militants walked out the gate of at Tripoli's Abu
Salim prison, accompanied by relatives weeping with joy, after a
release brokered by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
(Reuters, 3/24/10)
2010 Mar 24, Switzerland said
it will lift a travel ban on senior Libyan officials to ease
tensions in a dispute that has drawn in much of Europe. The Swiss
government expressed hope that Libya would respond by ending visa
restrictions against citizens of Switzerland and 24 other nations in
Europe's passport-free zone.
(AP, 3/24/10)
2010 Mar 27, A two-day Arab
League summit opened in Sirte, Libya. Amr Moussa, the head of the
Arab League, urged the 22-nation bloc to engage Iran directly over
concerns about its growing influence in the region and its disputed
nuclear program.
(AP, 3/27/10)
2010 Mar 27, Libya lifted a
visa ban on citizens of 25 European countries after EU president
Spain said a Swiss-instigated visa blacklist against 188 Libyans in
those countries had been scrapped.
(Reuters, 3/28/10)
2010 Mar 28, In Libya Arab
leaders renewed their support for Mideast peace efforts, rejecting
pressure from Syria and Libya on the Palestinians to abandon talks
with Israel and resume armed resistance.
(AP, 3/28/10)
2010 Apr 12, A Swiss court
rejected Hannibal Gadhafi's demand for 100,000 Swiss francs
($94,500) in reparations for the publication of a police mug shot
from his 2008 arrest in Geneva. Gadhafi was arrested in 2008 for
allegedly beating up his servants in a luxury hotel. He was later
released and charges were dropped.
(AP, 4/13/10)
2010 May 12, A Libyan Afriqiyah
Airways Airbus A330-200 carrying 104 people crashed on approach to
Tripoli's airport. Ruben van Assouw, a Dutch boy (9), was the only
known survivor. The Royal Dutch Tourism Board said 61 of the dead
came from the Netherlands.
(AP, 5/12/10)(AFP, 5/14/10)
2010 May 13, The UN General
Assembly approved all 14 candidates for the 14 seats on the
47-member Human Rights Council. Human rights groups criticized the
poor human rights records 7 of the candidates: Angola, Libya,
Malaysia, Mauritania, Qatar, Thailand and Uganda.
(SFC, 5/14/10, p.A2)
2010 Jun 8, The UN refugee
agency said it is being expelled from Libya without explanation
despite being responsible for thousands of refugees in the North
African country. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees received a
note from Libyan authorities last week ordering it to cease its work
and leave the country.
(AP, 6/8/10)
2010 Jun 9, Libya and Greece
signed an accord that paves the way for "strategic cooperation"
between the two countries during the Greek premier's visit to the
oil-rich country. The memorandum of understanding envisages
cooperation" in the areas of investment, energy, tourism, food
production, finance and renewable energy.
(AFP, 6/10/10)
2010 Jun 13, Libya said that
Switzerland has paid $1.5 million for mistreating Moammar Gadhafi's
son during his arrest there in 2008, and Switzerland expected the
return of Max Goeldi , a citizen held in Tripoli, as the countries
ended a two-year diplomatic row.
(AP, 6/13/10)
2010 Jun 24, Libya justified
its closure of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office in a
statement that included claims its representative had offered
refugee status in exchange for sex.
(AP, 6/25/10)
2010 Jun 28, Sudan said will
close its border crossings with Libya next month as it ramps up
security on the frontier in response to banditry. Leaders from the
Misseriya and Rizeigat groups signed a reconciliation deal in the
West Darfur town of Zalingei, raising hopes for an end to fighting
that has killed more than 200 people since March.
(AFP, 6/29/10)(Reuters, 6/29/10)
2010 Jul 8, Libya said that it
has granted some 400 Eritreans permission to stay after human rights
group warnings that refugees and asylum seekers among them risked
abuse if forcibly repatriated.
(AFP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 9, Libyan organizers
said a charity headed by Saif Al-Islam Kadhafi, the second son of
Libyan leader Moammar Kadhafi, is sending an aid boat from Greece to
Gaza to break the Israeli "siege." Organizers of the initiative had
earlier said the 25-year-old ship, owned by Piraeus-based ACA
Shipping Corporation, was called Hope. The ship set sail from Greece
on July 10 and headed for Egypt.
(AFP, 7/9/10)(AFP, 7/10/10)
2010 Jul 13, An Israeli
military vessel confronted a Libyan aid ship trying to breach
Israel's three-year-old Gaza blockade and ordered it to divert to an
Egyptian port.
(AP, 7/13/10)
2010 Jul 14, A ship sent by a
Libyan charity to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip
changed course in the Mediterranean Sea and docked at an Egyptian
port after agreeing to deliver its cargo of aid through Egyptian
territory.
(AP, 7/14/10)(AP, 7/15/10)
2010 Aug 8, Libya's government
announced it will pay compensation to some people it had wrongfully
imprisoned, the latest step in an effort to draw a line under a
history of human rights abuses.
(Reuters, 8/8/10)
2010 Aug 9, Israeli
photographer Rafael Rafram Chaddad, jailed by Libya for five months,
returned home after an Austrian tycoon brokered a deal for his
freedom that involved the delivery of 20 prefabricated homes from a
Libyan charity to the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 8/9/10)
2010 Aug 30, Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi and Premier Silvio Berlusconi marked a friendship
treaty between their two countries amid increasing criticism here
over Gadhafi's exhortation to Italians to convert to Islam.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 31, Libya freed 37
prisoners, including at least one former detainee at the US military
prison at Guantanamo Bay, who had been jailed for links to radical
Islamist groups but have since renounced violence.
(Reuters, 8/31/10)
2010 Sep 20, Libya's daily Oea
newspaper reported that Douglas O'Reilly, a Canadian man, was
detained after meeting a US diplomat suspected of being a CIA agent.
He was detained on suspicion of spying on a planned BP offshore
drilling project. O'Reilly claimed to be an archaeologist seeking to
warn of the BP project's potential impact on archaeological sites.
O'Reilly was given freedom to leave Libya on Sep 22.
(AP, 9/21/10)(AP, 9/22/10)
2010 Oct 4, The European
Commission offered Libya up to 50 million euros (70 million dollars)
in aid to stop the flow of illegal migrants to Europe and protect
refugees. Cecilia Malmstroem, EU home affairs commissioner, and
European neighborhood policy commission Stefan Fuele signed a
migration cooperation agenda with Libya.
(AFP, 10/5/10)
2010 Oct 9, The Arab League
opened a summit in Libya with the pressing Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and Sudan added to the original agenda.
(AFP, 10/9/10)
2010 Oct 25, Libya's Kadhafi
Foundation announced projects costing eight million dollars to help
Darfur refugees displaced by the conflict in western Sudan to return
to their homes.
(AFP, 10/25/10)
2010 Nov 6, Libyan authorities
arrested 10 reporters for criticizing Libya's leadership. They
worked for Libya Press, a news agency controlled by the son of
leader Moammar Gadhafi. A further 10 journalists working for Al-Ghad
titles were rounded up in a second wave of arrests. All the
reporters were released on Nov 8, and Moamer Kadhafi asked that an
inquiry be opened into the matter.
(AP, 11/7/10)(AFP, 11/8/10)
2010 Nov 28, African foreign
ministers, at a meeting on the eve of a summit on climate change in
Libya, rejected the idea of a joint declaration, which was to have
been signed at the conclusion of a two-day Africa-EU summit. The EU
had hoped to deliver a joint statement at the gathering of 80
nations from the two continents to deliver "a strong symbol" as the
Cancun conference on climate change opens in Mexico.
(AFP, 11/29/10)
2010 Nov 28, Nuri al-Mismari, a
top aide of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was arrested in Paris
after a request from Tripoli, which said he was suspected of
embezzlement. France gave Libya 30 days to submit evidence backing
its accusations. Supporters of al-Mismari later said he was a victim
of a power struggle inside the ruling elite.
(Reuters, 12/2/10)
2010 Dec 12, A foundation run
by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, released a
mixed annual report on human rights in Libya, noting progress on
some issues and failures in others.
(AFP, 12/13/10)
2010 Dec 14, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi pushed again his dream for a sole African government
and was backed by Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade as he urged the
creation of a single African army.
(AFP, 12/14/10)
2010 Dec 14, Amnesty
International accused the European Union and Libya of cooperating to
prevent migrants from Africa from reaching Europe.
(AFP, 12/14/10)
2010 Dec 20, Iraqi army special
forces killed three Libyans allegedly planning suicide bombings
ahead of Christmas in a raid in the northern city of Mosul.
(AFP, 12/20/10)
2010 Dec 21, The leaders of
Egypt and Libya were in Khartoum for talks with Sudanese leaders on
the future of Africa's largest country ahead of a referendum that's
likely to break it into two.
(AP, 12/21/10)
2011 Feb 15, In Libya at least
one person was killed and dozens of people injured in clashes in
Benghazi. Moamer Kadhafi faced rare Internet calls for a "Day of
Anger" on Feb 17 by activists buoyed by the ouster of veteran
strongmen on Libya's borders, in Egypt and Tunisia. Qaddafi was
supported by an 18,000-strong air force with 13 bases, a 20,000
well-armed paramilitary force loyal to his clan, as well as
mercenaries from Chad and Niger.
(AFP, 2/16/11)(Econ, 2/19/11, p.53)(Econ, 3/5/11,
p.51)
2011 Feb 16, In Libya at least
four people were killed in clashes with security forces in Al-Baida,
as the country faced a Feb 17 nationwide "Day of Anger" called by
cyber-activists.
(AFP, 2/17/11)
2011 Feb 17, Libyan protesters
seeking to oust longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi defied a crackdown
and took to the streets in four cities on what activists have dubbed
a "day of rage." At least 14 demonstrators have been reported killed
in clashes with pro-government groups.
(AP, 2/17/11)
2011 Feb 18, In Libya Moamer
Kadhafi's regime vowed to snuff any further attempt to challenge the
Libyan leader, after an opposition "day of anger" turned into a
bloodbath that a rights group said cost at least 24 lives. At least
35 people were killed in Benghazi.
(AFP, 2/18/11)(SFC, 2/19/11, p.A4)
2011 Feb 19, In Libya Moammar
Gadhafi's forces fired on mourners in the eastern city of Benghazi,
wiped out a protest encampment and clamped down on Internet service
throughout the country as the regime tried to squelch calls for an
end to the ruler's 42-year grip on power. A doctor at one Benghazi
hospital said 15 people died in the clashes. Today's deaths would
push the overall toll to 99.
(AP, 2/19/11)(AFP, 2/19/11)
2011 Feb 20, Libyan forces
fired machine-guns at mourners marching in a funeral for
anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi, a day
after commandos and foreign mercenaries loyal to longtime leader
Moammar Gadhafi pummeled demonstrators with assault rifles and other
heavy weaponry. A doctor at one Benghazi hospital said his morgue
had received at least 200 dead from six days of unrest. Mehdi
Mohammed Zeyo (49) drove his car, containing 2 gas canisters and a
can of gunpowder into the gate of a Benghazi security base. Security
forces shot the car and the following explosion allowed protesters
and defecting soldiers inside the base. Moammar Gadhafi's son, Seif
al-Islam, went on state TV late at night, warning civil war will
break out if protests continue. Seif al-Islam vowed that his father
and security forces would fight "until the last bullet." Bloody
clashes killed at least 60 people.
(AP, 2/20/11)(AP, 2/21/11)(SFC, 3/2/11, p.A3)
2011 Feb 21, Libyan protesters
celebrated in the streets of Benghazi, claiming control of the
country's second largest city after bloody fighting, and
anti-government unrest spread to the capital with clashes in
Tripoli's main square for the first time. Justice minister Mustafa
Abdel-Jalil resigned from his post to protest the "excessive use of
force against unarmed protesters."
(AP, 2/21/11)
2011 Feb 21, Spreading unrest
in Libya shut down 6 percent of oil output in Africa's No.3 producer
and prompted a host of energy firms to pull out international staff,
sending oil prices to above $105 a barrel. Al Jazeera television
said military aircraft fired live ammunition at crowds of
anti-government protesters in Tripoli.
(Reuters, 2/21/11)
2011 Feb 22, Libya's Muammar
Gaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to fight a growing
revolt, as the veteran leader scoffed at reports he was fleeing
after four decades in power. Human Rights Watch said at least 233
people have been killed and opposition groups put the figure much
higher. Libya's ambassador to the United States openly called for
Moamer Kadhafi to end his "dictatorship regime" and step down,
following other envoys deploring a deadly crackdown in the North
African nation.
(Reuters, 2/22/11)(AFP, 2/22/11)
2011 Feb 23, In Libya
militiamen loyal to Moammar Gadhafi clamped down in Tripoli, but
cracks in his regime spread elsewhere across the nation, as the
protest-fueled rebellion controlling much of eastern Libya claimed
new gains closer to the capital. Two pilots let their warplane crash
in the desert, parachuting to safety, rather than bomb an
opposition-held city. The International Federation for Human Rights
(IFHR) said at least 640 people have been killed in Libya in
protests against the regime of Moamer Kadhafi since they started on
February 14.
(AP, 2/23/11)(AFP, 2/23/11)
2011 Feb 23, France and Germany
threatened to hit Libya with EU sanctions for Moammar Gadhafi's
fierce crackdown on protesters, while the European Union said the
violence in Libya could constitute "crimes against humanity" and
urged an independent probe into it.
(AP, 2/23/11)
2011 Feb 23, A UN spokesman
said Aisha al-Khadafy, the daughter of Libyan leader Moammar
Khadafy, has been terminated as good will ambassador for the UN
Development Program (UNDP).
(SFC, 2/24/11, p.A2)
2011 Feb 24, In Libya forces
loyal to Muammar Gaddafi launched a counter-attack, fighting fierce
gun battles with rebels who have threatened the Libyan leader by
seizing important towns close to the capital. Key Libyan oil and oil
product terminals to the east of the capital were in the hands of
rebels. Fighting in the cities of Zawiya and Misrata killed at
least 30 people.
(AP, 2/24/11)(Reuters, 2/24/11)(AP, 2/25/11)
2011 Feb 25, In Libya militias
loyal to Moammar Gadhafi opened fire on protesters streaming out of
mosques in Tripoli, demanding the regime's ouster, witnesses said,
reporting at least 5 killed. Across rebellious cities in the east,
tens of thousands held rallies in support of the first Tripoli
protests in days. Libyan diplomats at the UN in Geneva declared they
were defecting to the opposition, delivering another blow to
Gadhafi's flailing regime as international pressure built over his
violent attempt to cling to power. Pro-Gadhafi troops with tanks
attacked the Misrata Air Base east of Tripoli that had fallen into
rebel hands. They succeeded in retaking part of it in battles with
residents and anti-Gadhafi army units and up to 27 people were said
to have been killed. 11 members of Libya's Arab League mission said
they have resigned en masse because of Gadhafi's use of force
against his opponents.
(AP, 2/25/11)(Reuters, 2/25/11)(AP, 2/26/11)(AP,
2/27/11)
2011 Feb 25, President Barack
Obama signed an executive order freezing assets held by Gadhafi and
four of his children in the United States.
(AP, 2/26/11)
2011 Feb 26, Libyan residents
said the embattled regime of Moammar Gadhafi is arming civilian
supporters to set up checkpoints and roving patrols around Tripoli
to control movement and quash dissent.
(AP, 2/26/11)
2011 Feb 26, Russia joined
other UN Security Council members in ordering an arms embargo
against Libya and other sanctions (Resolution 1970). Russia stood to
lose a total of up to $10 billion in arms sales, including almost $4
billion with Libya, from the wave of unrest currently destabilizing
regimes in north Africa and the Middle East. The UN Security Council
agreed to tell the prosecutor of the Int’l. Criminal Court (ICC) to
probe the Libyan crisis.
(AFP,
2/27/11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_1970)
2011 Feb 27, In Libya hundreds
of armed anti-government forces backed by rebel troops who control
the city closest to the capital Tripoli prepared to repel an
expected offensive by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi surrounding
Zawiya, a city of 200,000. Armed forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi
captured 3 Dutch marines and their helicopter during a botched
evacuation mission after landing near Sirte in a Lynx helicopter
from the navy ship HMS Tromp. Two Europeans, one Dutch and one whose
nationality was not released, were also captured. They were handed
over unharmed to the Dutch embassy in Tripoli on Feb 3 and left
Libya.
(AP, 2/27/11)(AP, 3/3/11)
2011 Feb 27, Britain froze the
assets of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in the country. The Daily
Telegraph reported that the liquid assets amount to about £20
billion.
(AFP, 3/4/11)
2011 Feb 28, Libyan rebels
downed a military aircraft as they fought a government bid to take
back Libya's third city, Misrata. French PM Francois Fillon said
that France was sending two planes with humanitarian aid to
Benghazi, the opposition stronghold in eastern Libya. Libya's oil
chief said production was down 50 percent because of the exodus of
foreign oil workers fleeing the country's violent uprising. Al
Jazeera reported that the beleaguered Kadhafi regime has asked Bu
Zaid Dorda, Libya's foreign intelligence chief, to hold a dialogue
with opposition leaders in eastern Libya. Rebel forces repelled
attackers at Misrata.
(Reuters, 2/28/11)(AP, 2/28/11)(AFP, 2/28/11)(AP,
3/1/11)
2011 Feb 28, A Pentagon
official said the US military is repositioning naval and air forces
around Libya, as international demands intensify for an end to
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's decades-long rule.
(Reuters, 2/28/11)
2011 Feb 28, The European Union
slapped its own arms embargo, visa ban and other sanctions on Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
(AP, 2/28/11)
2011 Mar 1, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi dispatched forces to a western border area in
defiance of Western military and economic pressure. Residents of
Zawiya, the rebel-held city closest to Tripoli, passed out sweets
and cold drinks to fighters and celebrated with a victory march
after they managed to repel an overnight attack by forces loyal to
Gadhafi. At least 1,000 people were feared dead in the bloody
crackdown on anti-government protesters.
(Reuters, 3/1/11)(AP, 3/1/11)(AFP, 3/1/11)
2011 Mar 1, The UN refugee
agency said that the situation on Libya's border with Tunisia is
reaching a crisis point after 70,000 to 75,000 people fled from the
violence in Libya since February 20.
(AFP, 3/1/11)
2011 Mar 1, Malta said it was
refusing to return two Libyan fighter jets that landed on the island
last week after their pilots defected.
(AP, 3/1/11)
2011 Mar 1, The UN General
Assembly suspended Libya from its top human rights body as
governments worldwide pressured Moammar Gadhafi to halt the deadly
crackdown on his people. It is the first time any country has been
suspended from the 47-member council since it was formed in 2006.
(AP, 3/2/11)
2011 Mar 2, Libyan strongman
Moamer Kadhafi warned "thousands" would die if the West intervened
to support the uprising against him. Government troops briefly
captured Marsa El Brega, an oil export terminal, before being driven
back by rebels. Shells splashed in the Mediterranean and a warplane
bombed a beach where rebel fighters were charging over the dunes. At
least five people were killed in the fighting. Thousands of
Bangladheshi migrant workers, desperate to leave Libya, pressed up
against the gates of the Tunisia frontier, angry at their government
for sending no help. Britain, Spain, France and others launched
emergency airlifts along Libya's borders, trying to prevent racially
charged attacks on the tens of thousands of foreign workers try to
flee.
(AFP, 3/2/11)(Reuters, 3/2/11)(AP, 3/2/11)
2011 Mar 2, In Libya Andrei
Netto of the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo, was detained
in Zawiyah. He had been travelling with Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, an Iraqi
national who has been reporting from western Libya for the past two
weeks. Abdul-Ahad was last in touch with the Guardian newspaper
through a third party on March 6. Netto was released on March 10.
(AFP, 3/10/11)(AP, 3/11/11)
2011 Mar 2, Britain seized
£100 million ($160 million, 117 million euros) of Libyan
currency found on a Libya-bound ship after escorting the vessel to
an English port.
(AFP, 3/4/11)
2011 Mar 2, In the Netherlands
prosecutors at the International Criminal Court said they will open
a formal investigation into possible crimes against humanity in
Libya.
(AP, 3/2/11)
2011 Mar 3, Libya’s Muammar
Gaddafi struck at rebel control of a key Libyan coastal road for a
second day but received a warning he would be held to account at The
Hague for suspected crimes by his security forces. Mutinous army
units deployed around the strategic oil installation at Brega,
securing the site after the opposition repelled an attempt by
loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi to retake the port in rebel-held east
Libya. A spokesman for Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said the
Libyan government has accepted a Venezuelan plan that seeks a
negotiated solution to the uprising in the North African country.
(Reuters, 3/3/11)(AP, 3/3/11)(Reuters, 3/3/11)
2011 Mar 4, Libyan forces
bombed the rebel town of Ajdabiya as anti-regime fighters pushed the
front line westwards. Forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi fired tear gas
at protesters in Tripoli as a fierce crackdown that has terrorized
parts of the capital the past week seemingly smothered attempts to
revive demonstrations calling for the Libyan leader's ouster. Rebel
witnesses in Raslanuf said at least four people have been killed in
heavy clashes between pro- and anti-Kadhafi forces. Zawiyah was
surrounded by Kadhafi loyalists and at least 13 people were killed
by loyalists forces in fighting there. At least 10 people were
killed and more than 20 wounded from fierce fighting for Ras Lanuf.
Twin explosions at an arms dump at the Rajma military base just
outside Benghazi killed at least 27. The cause of the blasts
remained unclear.
(AFP, 3/4/11)(AP, 3/4/11)(Reuters, 3/4/11)(AFP,
3/5/11)
2011 Mar 4, Interpol said it
has issued an international alert for Moammar Gadhafi and 15 other
family members and close associates in a move aimed at helping
enforce international sanctions against the Libyan strongman and his
regime.
(AP, 3/4/11)
2011 Mar 5, The Libyan
opposition fighting to overthrow Moamer Kadhafi announced its first
formal meeting. Gadhafi loyalists swept into the opposition-held
city closest to Tripoli, tightening security around the regime-held
capital. To the east, rebel forces captured a key oil port as the
country veered toward civil war. Thousands of migrant workers were
on the move in Libya, trying to flee the fighting between rebels and
forces loyal to Gadhafi's regime. A military arsenal at Rajma,
outside Benghazi, exploded reportedly killing 40 people.
(AFP, 3/5/11)(AP, 3/5/11)(Econ, 3/12/11, p.53)
2011 Mar 6, Libyan helicopter
gunships fired on a rebel force advancing west toward the capital
along the Mediterranean coastline and forces loyal to leader Moammar
Gadhafi fought intense ground battles with the rival fighters. Four
people were killed in fighting at Bin Jawwad and Ras Lanouf. 21
people, including a child, were killed and dozens wounded in the
rebel-held city of Misrata during fighting and shelling by Moamer
Kadhafi's forces.
(AP, 3/6/11)(AFP, 3/7/11)
2011 Mar 7, Libyan warplanes
launched fresh airstrikes on rebel positions around Ras Lanouf, a
key oil port, trying to block the opposition fighters from advancing
toward Moammar Gadhafi's stronghold in the capital, Tripoli.
Pro-Gaddafi security forces bombarded the city of Zawiya from the
east and west.
(Reuters, 3/7/11)(AFP, 3/7/11)
2011 Mar 8, Libyan warplanes
launched at least five new airstrikes near rebel positions in the
oil port of Ras Lanouf, keeping up a counteroffensive to prevent the
opposition from advancing toward leader Moammar Gadhafi's stronghold
in the capital Tripoli. Gadhafi loyalists recaptured Zawiya, the
city closest to Tripoli that had fallen into opposition hands after
heavy shelling by tank artillery and mortars. The conflict, entering
its third week, has left at least 1,000 people dead, including many
civilians.
(AP, 3/8/11)(AFP, 3/8/11)
2011 Mar 8, Trading sources
said Libyan oil trade has been paralyzed as banks decline to clear
payments in dollars due to US sanctions. An official with a
subsidiary of Libya's national oil company said that production has
dropped by about 90 percent.
(Reuters, 3/8/11)(AP, 3/8/11)
2011 Mar 8, The European Union
agreed to slap new sanctions on Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's
regime, notably targeting the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), the
overseas investment vehicle for Tripoli's oil revenues.
(AFP, 3/8/11)
2011 Mar 9, A high-ranking
member of the Libyan military flew to Cairo with a message for
Egyptian army officials from Moammar Gadhafi, whose troops pounded
opposition forces with artillery barrages and gunfire in at least
two major cities. Forces loyal to Gaddafi closed in on rebels in the
western city of Zawiyah. Rebels said Gaddafi's forces hit an oil
pipeline leading to Es Sider and dropped bombs on storage tanks in
the Ras Lanuf oil terminal area. Libya's exiled crown prince asked
foreign powers to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and strike
Gaddafi's air defenses, but said the Libyan people would not want
international forces on the ground.
(AP, 3/9/11)(Reuters, 3/9/11)
2011 Mar 10, Libyan tanks fired
on rebel positions around the oil port of Ras Lanuf and warplanes
hit another oil hub further east as Muammar Gaddafi carried
counter-attacks deeper into the insurgent heartland. Kadhafi's
forces sent rebel forces fleeing from a key oil hub and recaptured a
town near Tripoli. The New York Times reported that Kadhafi has
"tens of billions" of dollars in cash hidden in Tripoli, which
allows him to battle an uprising despite an international freeze on
Libyan assets.
(Reuters, 3/10/11)(AFP, 3/10/11)
2011 Mar 10, France blazed a
diplomatic trail as it recognized a newly formed Libyan opposition
group, drawing the ire of other European nations for stepping out on
its own even as the situation in Libya remained unclear.
(AP, 3/10/11)
2011 Mar 11, Libyan security
forces used tear gas and fired in the air on Friday to disperse
worshippers near a mosque in the capital before they could protest
against Muammar Gaddafi. Rebels said that an air strike by forces
loyal to Muammar Gaddafi hit storage tanks of Libya's state-owned
Ras Lanuf Oil and Gas Processing Company (RASCO). Rebels appealed
for arms as they battled with Moamer Kadhafi's advancing forces.
(Reuters, 3/11/11)
2011 Mar 12, Libyan rebels
called for help from the Arab League as it met for key talks on the
conflict, including recognition for their council and backing for a
no-fly zone to help their battered forces. Europe and the US stepped
up diplomatic pressure on Gaddafi to quit. Troops loyal to Gaddafi
launched an assault on the city of Misrata, attempting to recapture
the last town in the west of the country still in rebel hands.
Matthew VanDyke (31), a Maryland writer, was last heard from as he
set off for a daytrip to Brega from Benghazi. He sent GPS
coordinates the next day and was not heard from since.
(AFP, 3/12/11)(Reuters, 3/12/11)(AP, 6/4/11)
2011 Mar 13, Libyan rebels
abandoned Brega, another key town under heavy shelling from
advancing government forces, as international backing grew only
slowly for a no-fly zone over the country. In Benghazi, 240km east
of Brega, all mobile telephone services were suddenly cut for an
unknown reason. State television said Libya has asked foreign firms
to resume oil exports, saying its ports are safe despite a deadly
month-long conflict. Libya's de facto oil minister said the
country's crude production has fallen "drastically" and that he has
reached out to Italian oil giant Eni SpA for help in extinguishing a
blaze at Ras Lanouf.
(AFP, 3/13/11)(AP, 3/13/11)
2011 Mar 14, In Libya forces
loyal to Moamer Kadhafi launched attacks on Ajdabiya, a key town
that rebels have vowed to defend, as leading nations began talks on
the crisis. Gaddafi forces also attacked the small western town of
Zuwarah. State news agency said Kadhafi has invited Chinese, Russian
and Indian firms to produce its oil instead of Western companies
that fled the unrest.
(AFP, 3/14/11)(Reuters, 3/14/11)
2011 Mar 15, In Libya Gadhafi's
military blasted rebels with airstrikes and bombardment from
warships, tanks and artillery in an overwhelming display of
firepower, trying for the first time to take back the city of
Ajdabiya in the opposition's eastern heartland. Rebel fighters
rushed to the front as mosques in the city broadcast pleas for help
defending the city. Four NYT journalists were detained the northern
port city of Ajdabiya where they were covering the retreat of
rebels. The 4 journalists were released on March 21.
(AP, 3/15/11)(AP, 3/17/11)(Reuters, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 15, Group of Eight
(G8) powers shied away from imposing a no-fly zone to protect
Libyans from assault by Kadhafi forces, laying it off to the UN
Security Council. Flight restrictions sought by France and Britain
were blocked by Russia and Germany.
(AFP, 3/15/11)
2011 Mar 16, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi's forces used tanks and artillery to try to retake
the city of Misrata, the last big rebel stronghold in western Libya.
Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said "everything will be over in 48
hours."
(Reuters, 3/16/11)
2011 Mar 17, Libyan rebels shot
down at least two bomber planes that attacked the airport in Benina,
a civil and military airport just outside Benghazi. The Red Cross
said it was leaving Benghazi because of deteriorating security and
moving to the city of Tobruk.
(AP, 3/17/11)
2011 Mar 17, The UN Security
Council voted to permit "all necessary measures" to establish a
no-fly zone, protect civilian areas and impose a ceasefire on
Kadhafi's military. Five countries on the 15-strong council
abstained, including China, Russia, India, Brazil and Germany.
Resolution 1973 outlined the "responsibility of the Libyan
authorities to protect the Libyan population.
(AFP, 3/18/11)
2011 Mar 18, Libya said it will
halt all military operations immediately in compliance with a newly
adopted UN Security Council resolution. A Libyan rebel spokesman
dismissed the cease-fire announcement, claiming Moammar Gadhafi's
forces are still attacking key cities in the east and the west.
(AFP, 3/18/11)(AP, 3/18/11)
2011 Mar 18, President Barack
Obama endorsed military action against Libya's Moammar Gadhafi,
saying US values and credibility are at stake to stop "the potential
for mass murder" of innocents.
(AP, 3/19/11)
2011 Mar 18, Canada announced
it was deploying CF-18 fighter jets to help enforce a no-fly zone
over Libya and said the deployment would go ahead despite the
ceasefire declared by Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi.
(AFP, 3/18/11)
2011 Mar 18, Italy's foreign
minister said his nation will allow its military bases to be used
for the UN-backed military intervention to enforce a no-fly zone
over Libya.
(AP, 3/18/11)
2011 Mar 19, Libya’s Moammar
Gadhafi took advantage of international indecision to attack the
heart of the 5-week-old uprising, sending troops, tanks and
warplanes to swarm the first city seized by the rebels. Fighting
raged around Benghazi, with air strikes, tank fire and shelling
rocking the Mediterranean city as a rebel warplane went down in
flames.
(AP, 3/19/11)(AFP, 3/19/11)
2011 Mar 19, Libyan officials
detained the crew of an Italian ship docked in Tripoli and prevented
the vessel from leaving port. The "Asso 22" tug of the Naples-based
shipping company Augusta Offshore SrL had 8 Italian, 2 Indian and a
Ukrainian crew member aboard.
(AP, 3/20/11)
2011 Mar 19, Libyan military
detained journalists Dave Clark (38), photographer Roberto Schmidt
(45), of AFP; and Joe Raedle (45), a photographer for Getty Images.
(AP, 3/22/11)
2011 Mar 19, In Libya Mohammed
Nabbous (b.1983), a information technologist, blogger,
businessperson and civilian journalist, was killed while reporting
on attempts by government forces to fight revolutionaries and attack
civilians in Benghazi. He had set up camera feeds to a video
streaming site.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Nabbous)(Econ, 1/14/12, p.58)
2011 Mar 19, Pres. Obama
authorized limited military action against Libya. Operation Odyssey
Dawn became the US code name for the international military
operation in Libya enforcing United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1973. The Pentagon said 112 cruise missiles were launched
from US and UK ships and subs, hitting 20 targets.
(AP,
3/19/11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Odyssey_Dawn)
2011 Mar 19, Six Danish F-16
fighter jets landed at the US air base in Sigonella, Sicily, and a
half-dozen US aircraft arrived elsewhere as the military buildup
mounted in Italy for possible action against Libya.
(AP, 3/19/11)
2011 Mar 19, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy said that French warplanes are already targeting
Gadhafi's forces. 22 participants at a summit in Paris "agreed to
put in place all the means necessary, in particular military" to
make Gadhafi respect a March 17 UN Security Council resolution to
protect civilian areas. Libyan government tanks and troops reached
the edges of Benghazi in fierce fighting that killed more than 120.
Gibreil Hewadi, a member of the rebel health committee, said the
dead included rebel fighters and civilians, among them women and
children.
(AP, 3/19/11)(AP, 3/20/11)
2011 Mar 20, A defiant Moammar
Gadhafi vowed a "long war" after the US and European militaries
blasted his forces with airstrikes and over 100 cruise missiles,
hitting air defenses and at least two major air bases. Despite the
strikes, Gadhafi's troops lashed back, bombarding the rebel-held
city of Misrata with artillery and tanks. Arab League chief Amr
Moussa condemned the "bombardment of civilians" as the death toll
from the Western air strikes rose to 64.
(AP, 3/20/11)(Reuters, 3/20/11)
2011 Mar 20, Britain said its
air and sea strikes on Libya had been "very successful" and stressed
it was doing everything it could to avoid civilian casualties as it
enforces a UN-sanctioned no-fly zone. at least seven demolished
tanks smoldered in a field 12 miles (20 km) south of Benghazi, many
of them with their turrets and treads blown off. Turkey was blocking
NATO action, which requires agreement by all 28 members of the
alliance.
(AFP, 3/20/11)(AP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 21, The EU agreed to
new economic sanctions against Moamer Kadhafi's regime, targeting
both individuals and Libyan economic entities.
(AFP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 21, A top French
official said the international military intervention in Libya is
likely to last "awhile," echoing Moammar Gadhafi's warning of a long
war ahead as rebels said they were fighting to reclaim Ajdabiya. New
fighting broke out in Misrata, the last rebel-held city in western
Libya.
(AP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 21, Abdul Rahman bin
Hamad al-Attiyah, secretary general of the six-nation Gulf
Cooperation Council, underscored the commitment of Qatar and the UAR
to the international military coalition striking Libya but stressed
the mission seeks only to protect civilians.
(AP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 21, In Libya an
American fighter jet crashed. Both crew members ejected safely.
(AP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 22, In Libya Moammar
Gadhafi's forces shelled rebels regrouping in the desert dunes
outside Ajdabiya, a strategic eastern city. Gadhafi's snipers and
tanks roamed the streets of Misrata, the last major opposition-held
city in the west, signaling a prolonged battle ahead. 2 dozen
Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from US and British
submarines in the last 24 hours.
(AP, 3/22/11)
2011 Mar 22, China called for
an immediate cease-fire in Libya.
(AP, 3/22/11)
2011 Mar 22, France's foreign
ministry said that NATO would provide support to military
intervention by the Western-led coalition in Libya when the US
scales back its participation.
(Reuters, 3/22/11)
2011 Mar 22, Spain's Parliament
overwhelmingly approved the prime minister's decision to take part
in the US-led coalition enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya.
(AP, 3/22/11)
2011 Mar 23, In Libya
international airstrikes forced Moammar Gadhafi's forces to withdraw
tanks that were besieging Misrata, while people fleeing Ajdabiya in
the east said the situation was deteriorating amid relentless
shelling. Libyan rebels appointed an executive committee under prime
minister Mahmoud Jibril (b.1952).
(AP, 3/23/11)(Econ, 9/10/11,
p.53)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Jibril)
2011 Mar 23, NATO nations
offered an armada of ships and submarines to enforce an arms embargo
against Libya, as Western allies sought to settle a row over the
organization's role in a no-fly zone.
(AFP, 3/23/11)
2011 Mar 24, French airstrikes
hit an air base deep inside Libya and NATO ships patrolled the coast
to block arms and mercenaries from flowing in to help Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi. Other coalition bombers struck artillery, tanks and
parked helicopters. NATO envoys decided to maintain the no-fly
patrols as authorized by a UN Security Council resolution last week.
(AP, 3/24/11)(AP, 3/25/11)
2011 Mar 25, In eastern Libya
rebel gunners fought artillery duels with Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
Western warplanes struck at heavy armor used by the government to
crush the revolt. NATO said its no fly zone operation could last
three months, and France cautioned the conflict would not end soon.
(Reuters, 3/25/11)
2011 Mar 25, A boat left
Tripoli carrying 72 people. It drifted for more than two weeks after
it ran out of fuel, water and food. Only 9 people survived. The
survivors were arrested by pro-Gadhafi forces after their boat came
ashore in Libya, but managed to flee again.
(AFP, 5/13/11)(AP, 5/13/11)
2011 Mar 25, Africa's highest
court on human rights ordered Libya to immediately cease any action
that would result in the loss of life. The order also compelled
Libya to report to the Tanzania-based court within two weeks. The
ruling was not made public until March 30.
(AP, 3/31/11)
2011 Mar 25, Canadian Defense
Minister Peter MacKay said that Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard has been
designated to lead the alliance's military campaign in Libya.
Bouchard will be in charge of both the air campaign and the naval
task force implementing the arms embargo.
{Canada, NATO, Libya}
(AP, 3/25/11)(AP, 3/26/11)
2011 Mar 25, Qatar flew its
first sortie after joining the forces of 10 other nations enforcing
the no-fly zone over Libya.
(AP, 3/26/11)
2011 Mar 26, Libyan rebels
regained control of the eastern gateway city of Ajdabiya after
international airstrikes crippled Moammar Gadhafi's forces, in the
first major turnaround for an uprising that a week ago appeared on
the verge of defeat. In the western city of Zwara the opposition
lost to Gadhafi. A resident said security agents had lists of rebel
sympathizers and were dragging them from their homes in Zwara and
Zawiya.
(AP, 3/26/11)
2011 Mar 26, In Libya Iman
Al-Obeidi said she spent two days in detention after being arrested
at a checkpoint, and sexually assaulted by up to 15 men while in
custody. She shouted to tell her story at the Rixos hotel in
Tripoli, after storming into the hotel's breakfast room to show her
wounds to foreign media. Minders overpowered the woman and took her
away. Days later Iman Al-Obeidi was sued for slander for naming her
alleged attackers.
(AP, 3/26/11)(Reuters, 3/29/11)
2011 Mar 27, Libyan rebels
pushed further west to retake more territory abandoned by Muammar
Gaddafi's retreating forces, which have been weakened by Western air
strikes. Their gains put the rebels back in control of all the main
oil terminals in the eastern half of Libya: Es Sider, Ras Lanuf,
Brega, Zueitina and Tobruk. Misrata remained under siege by Gaddafi
forces.
(Reuters, 3/27/11)
2011 Mar 28, Libyan rebel
forces fought their way to the doorstep of Moammar Gadhafi's
hometown of Sirte, a key government stronghold guarding the road to
the capital Tripoli. British jets bombed ammunition bunkers in
southern Libya after weekend strikes took out a score of tanks and
armored vehicles near the towns of Ajdabiya and Misrata. Libya's
Foreign Ministry declared a ceasefire in Misrata.
(AP, 3/28/11)(AFP, 3/28/11)(Reuters, 3/28/11)
2011 Mar 28, President Barack
Obama explained to a hesitant America why he launched the military
assault in Libya.
(AP, 3/29/11)
2011 Mar 29, Libyan government
tanks and rockets blunted a rebel assault on Moammar Gadhafi's
hometown of Sirte and drove back the ragtag army of irregulars, even
as world leaders prepared to debate the country's future in London.
Rebels in Misrata said they were under renewed attack by forces
loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, and appealed to governments meeting in
London to help them. Forces loyal to Gaddafi killed 18
civilians in Misrata.
(AP, 3/29/11)(Reuters, 3/29/11)(Reuters, 3/30/11)
2011 Mar 29, The UN refugee
agency says over 2,000 people have arrived in Italy from Libya by
boat since March 26 and more are believed to be en route.
(AP, 3/29/11)
2011 Mar 30, Libya's government
warned that it would sue any international company that concluded
energy deals with rebels who control some of the country's oil
infrastructure. Rebels retreated from the oil port of Ras Lanouf
along the coastal road leading to the capital Tripoli after they
came under heavy shelling from ground forces loyal to leader Moammar
Gadhafi. Coalition aircraft sank 5 government ships blocking the
supply of humanitarian aid to Misrata.
(Reuters, 3/30/11)(AP, 3/30/11)(Econ, 4/2/11,
p.42)
2011 Mar 30, US officials
revealed that the CIA has sent small teams of operatives into
rebel-held eastern Libya while the White House debates whether to
arm the opposition. The British government said Libyan Foreign
Minister Moussa Koussa had arrived in Britain from Tunisia and
resigned.
(AP, 3/31/11)
2011 Mar 30, Britain said it
has expelled five Libyan diplomats loyal to Moammar Gadhafi's regime
because of their intimidation of opposition supporters and their
potential threat to the UK's national security.
(AP, 3/30/11)
2011 Mar 31, Libyan rebels
fought for control of the eastern oil town of Brega. Opponents took
heart in the defection of Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, one of the
autocrat's closest confidants.
(Reuters, 3/31/11)(AP, 3/31/11)
2011 Mar 31, The British
government said in a human rights report published about 1,000
people are believed to have been killed in clashes between
supporters and opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Britain
refused to offer Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa immunity from
prosecution after his apparent defection.
(AP, 3/31/11)
2011 Mar 31, Canadian Lt. Gen.
Charles Bouchard, the new commander of international military
operations in Libya, warned that anyone attacking civilians would be
"ill-advised" to continue, and said he would look into a report by a
Vatican envoy that air strikes had killed 40 innocent people.
(AP, 3/31/11)
2011 Apr 1, A Libyan opposition
leader said rebels will agree to a cease-fire if Moammar Gadhafi
pulls his military forces out of cities and allows peaceful protests
against his regime, as rebels showed signs that their front-line
organization is improving. Gaddafi's forces stormed the western
rebel outpost of Misrata with tanks and artillery. Sustained gunfire
rang out near Gaddafi's heavily fortified compound in Tripoli and
residents said they saw snipers on rooftops and pools of blood on
the streets. A coalition air raid reportedly killed 13 people, four
of them civilians, some 15 km east of the battleground town of
Brega.
(AP, 4/1/11)(Reuters, 4/1/11)(AFP, 4/2/11)
2011 Apr 1, A Libyan rebel
official said a plan to sell rebel-held oil to buy weapons and other
supplies has been reached with Qatar.
(AP, 4/1/11)
2011 Apr 2, Libyan government
forces killed six civilians in the city of Misrata in an unrelenting
campaign aimed at driving rebels from the main city they hold in the
west. Rebels claimed victory in the battle for Brega as heavy
fighting ensued around the oil town. A British delegation arrived in
Benghazi, nearly a month after a special forces team was seized in a
bungled mission to contact the rebels. 13 rebels died in an air
strike near Brega.
(AP, 4/2/11)(AFP, 4/2/11)(AFP, 4/3/11)(AP,
4/7/11)
2011 Apr 3, Libyan rebels put
their best troops in to battle Muammar Gaddafi's forces for the
eastern oil town of Brega while Western warplanes flew overhead and
the sound of explosions ripped through the air. At least one person
was killed and several wounded when forces loyal to Gaddafi shelled
a building in the rebel-held city of Misrata. Libyan Deputy Foreign
Minister Abdelati Obeidi was reported to have crossed from Libya
into neighboring Tunisia and from there flown to Athens.
(AP, 4/3/11)(Reuters, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 4, Libyan rebels
insisted that the whole Kadhafi family must leave before there can
be any truce with regime forces amid reports that his sons are
offering to oversee a transition. Evacuees said Gaddafi forces using
tanks and snipers were carrying out a "massacre" in Misrata with
corpses on the streets and hospitals full of the wounded. Rebels
advanced on the war-battered oil town of Brega and a Gadhafi envoy
pressed other European countries for help in ending the crisis.
(AFP, 4/4/11)(Reuters, 4/4/11)(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 4, Italy recognized
opponents of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi as the country's only
legitimate voice, becoming the third country to do so, after France
and Qatar.
(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 4, A NATO official
said the US military will pull its warplanes from front-line
missions today and shift to a support role in the Libyan conflict.
(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 5, Libya's government
said it is ready to negotiate reforms but only as long as Moamer
Kadhafi is not forced out. Government forces unleashed a bombardment
of the rebels outside the key oil town of Brega pushing them back,
even as the regime said Gadhafi might consider some reforms but
would not step down. The ICC's prosecutor said the International
Criminal Court has evidence Gaddafi's government planned to put down
protests by killing civilians before the uprising in Libya broke
out. A group of journalists came under attack by Gaddafi forces near
Brega. South African photographer Anton Hammerl was wounded in the
attack. Hammerl was initially reported to have been captured by
militia, together with Americans Clare Morgana Gillis and James
Foley, but it was later believed that he died from his wounds.
(AFP, 4/5/11)(AP, 4/5/11)(Reuters, 4/5/11)(AP,
5/19/11)
2011 Apr 6, Libyan deputy
foreign minister Khaled Kaim said in Tripoli that Moamer Kadhafi's
regime will talk with the rebels about reforms provided they lay
down their arms. France pledged to open a sea corridor to the
besieged city of Misrata. Rebels regained ground in a new advance on
an oil port but accused NATO of inaction hindering their quest to
oust Gaddafi.
(AFP, 4/6/11)(Reuters, 4/6/11)
2011 Apr 6, Between 130 and 250
people were missing and at least 20 appeared to be dead after a boat
carrying refugees from Libya capsized south of Sicily. 53 survivors
were plucked from the sea and 150 remained missing.
(Reuters, 4/6/11)(AFP, 4/7/11)
2011 Apr 7, A NATO air strike
killed at least five rebels near the Libyan port of Brega.
Insurgents reported that Muammar Gaddafi's forces killed five more
in a bombardment of besieged Misrata. NATO blamed forces loyal to
Gaddafi for a fire in the Sarir oilfield, and denied the Western
military alliance had launched air strikes in the area.
(Reuters, 4/7/11)
2011 Apr 8, Libyan government
forces tried to storm into the besieged city of Misrata as NATO
generals acknowledged their air power was not enough to help
insurgents remove Muammar Gaddafi by force alone. UNICEF said
snipers are targeting children in Misrata. Loyalist forces shelled
the edge of Ajdabiya forcing insurgents there to retreat. NATO
expressed regret at the deaths caused by an alliance air strike on
rebel tanks.
(Reuters, 4/8/11)(AP, 4/8/11)(AFP, 4/8/11)
2011 Apr 9, In Libya rebels
captured 15 Algerian mercenaries and killed another three during
fierce fighting in Ajdabiya. At least 12 rebels were killed in and
around Ajdabiya.
(AP, 4/10/11)
2011 Apr 10, In Libya NATO
airstrikes battered Moammar Gadhafi's tanks, helping rebels push
back government troops advancing quickly toward the opposition's
eastern stronghold. After destroying 14 tanks around Misrata early
in the day, warplanes struck more tanks and anti-aircraft guns in
the late afternoon. The African Union said Muammar Gaddafi has
accepted a roadmap for ending the conflict in Libya including an
immediate ceasefire, but an opposition representative said it would
only work if Gaddafi left power.
(AP, 4/10/11)(AP, 4/10/11)
2011 Apr 11, In Libya a
delegation of African heads of state met rebel leaders in their
stronghold of Benghazi to try to sell a peace plan already accepted
by Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Forces loyal to Gaddafi shelled the
besieged town of Misrata.
(AFP, 4/11/11)(Reuters, 4/11/11)
2011 Apr 12, In Libya Moammar
Gadhafi's forces shelled the only major city in the western half
that remained under partial rebel control. France said NATO should
be doing more to take out heavy weaponry targeting civilians. NATO
knocked out 16 Qaddafi tanks.
(AP, 4/12/11)(Econ, 4/16/11, p.53)
2011 Apr 13, Libyan rebels
along the eastern front line pleaded again for more NATO airstrikes
and expressed hope that political developments will allow them to
advance on Moammar Gadhafi's territory. Top Western and Arab envoys
gathered in Qatar's capital to discuss ways to end the Libyan
crisis. Members of the Transitional National Council addressed the
contact group as an alternative voice for Libya's people.
(AP, 4/13/11)(AFP, 4/13/11)
2011 Apr 14, Libyan rebels
begged for more NATO air strikes, saying they faced a massacre from
government artillery barrages on the besieged city of Misrata.
Western allies squabbled over the air campaign as forces loyal to
Gadhafi shelled Misrata, killing at least 23 people. NATO warplanes
launched air strikes on Tripoli. State-run Al-Libya TV channel
reported that there were casualties. NATO allies rebuffed French and
British calls to contribute more actively to the air war in Libya
despite fears of a military stalemate.
(Reuters, 4/14/11)(AFP, 4/14/11)
2011 Apr 14, NATO allies met in
Berlin seeking to bridge differences over their campaign in Libya,
as rebels fighting to topple Moamer Kadhafi reported an intensive
bombing blitz by alliance warplanes.
(AFP, 4/14/11)
2011 Apr 15, In Libya a fresh
hail of government rockets crashed into Misrata after Western allies
denounced a "medieval siege" of the city and vowed to keep bombing
Muammar Gaddafi's forces until he stepped down. Gaddafi forces
opened fire on rebels and killed one near the strategic eastern
Libyan town of Ajdabiyah, after an insurgent plan for a new
counter-assault fizzled out.
(Reuters, 4/15/11)
2011 Apr 16, In Libya forces
loyal to Muammar Gaddafi fired at least 100 Grad rockets into
Misrata, in a third day of heavy bombardment of the rebel-held city.
A rights watchdog said Kadhafi's forces were using cluster bombs.
Rebels made it into the outskirts of Brega but many fled back to
Ajdabiyah after six were killed by rockets fired by Gaddafi
loyalists on the exposed coastal road joining the two towns.
(Reuters, 4/16/11)(AP, 4/16/11)(AFP,
4/16/11)(Reuters, 4/17/11)
2011 Apr 17, Libyan rebels came
under fire on the outskirts of Ajdabiyah, hemming them in to their
eastern outpost and denting their hopes of pushing west to try to
end a stalemate in the war. Gaddafi's forces shelled Misrata again
killing 17 people. The UN reached an agreement with the Libyan
government to provide humanitarian aid in Tripoli.
(AP, 4/17/11)(AP, 4/18/11)
2011 Apr 18, In Libya forces
loyal to Muammar Gaddafi bombarded Misrata with rockets and
artillery. A senior UN official said Gadhafi's government has
promised the UN access to Misrata, following weeks of heavy shelling
of the city by government forces. A doctor reported 1,000 people
killed in six weeks of fighting in the besieged city.
(AP, 4/18/11)(AFP, 4/18/11)
2011 Apr 19, In Libya heavy
fighting raged in Misrata. A NATO commander complained the alliance
was having trouble destroying Gadhafi's mortars and rockets
attacking rebels there. 8 people were reported killed in Misrata.
The UN appealed for a ceasefire in Misrata, saying at least 20
children had been killed in attacks by besieging government forces
on rebel-held parts of the city. Rebels put the death toll from two
months of fighting at 10,000. NATO's commander in chief for the
operation in Libya announced military strikes against Kadhafi's
command centers, including Tripoli and a brigade accused of leading
attacks on civilians.
(AP, 4/19/11)(Reuters, 4/19/11)(AFP,
4/19/11)(Reuters, 4/20/11)
2011 Apr 19, Britain said it
will send a team of up 20 senior military officers to Libya to help
organize the country's haphazard opposition forces.
(AP, 4/19/11)
2011 Apr 20, In Libya Gadhafi's
troops clashed with opposition forces In Misrata and shelled the
mountain town of Yifran. Yifran, Qalaa, Nalut and others near the
Tunisian borders are inhibited by Berbers who suffered under Gadhafi
repressive policies. France and Italy announced that they will join
the UK in sending small teams of military advisers to eastern Libya.
Among those killed today in Misrata were British photojournalist Tim
Hetherington, co-director of Oscar-nominated war documentary
"Restrepo," and American photographer Chris Hondros. A Ukrainian
doctor was killed in a separate incident. The doctor's wife lost her
legs.
(AP, 4/20/11)(AP, 4/21/11)(Reuters, 4/21/11)
2011 Apr 20, US officials said
the Obama administration plans to give the Libyan opposition $25
million in non-lethal assistance in what will be the first direct US
aid to the rebels after weeks of assessing their capabilities and
intentions.
(AP, 4/20/11)
2011 Apr 21, Libyan government
troops pounded the rebel-held city of Misrata overnight, undeterred
by Western threats to step up military action against Muammar
Gaddafi's forces. Mortar fire killed at least three rebels and
wounded 17 in attacks on Tripoli Street. State television said NATO
forces had struck the Khallat al-Farjan area of the capital Tripoli,
killing seven people and wounding 18 others. Rebels overran a post
on the Tunisian border, marking their first advance in weeks against
Moamer Kadhafi's forces.
(Reuters, 4/21/11)(AFP, 4/21/11)
2011 Apr 21, The United States
started flying armed drones to bolster NATO firepower and try to
break a battlefield stalemate with Moammar Gadhafi's forces.
(AP, 4/22/11)
2011 Apr 22, Libyan rebels
wrested control of a downtown office building in Misrata which had
been a base for Gaddafi's snipers and other troops, after a furious
two-week-long battle. Rebels welcomed US plans to deploy unmanned
aircraft. Two people were killed in NATO raids on the Zintan region.
(AP, 4/22/11)(AFP, 4/25/11)
2011 Apr 22, Gambia said it
wants the Libyan ambassador loyal to Moammar Gadhafi to leave and
declared its support for the Benghazi-based rebel council.
(AP, 4/22/11)
2011 Apr 23, In Libya Kadhafi's
regime gave its army an "ultimatum" to take Misrata but government
troops retreated to the outskirts under rebel fire. The opposition
claimed victory after officials in Tripoli decided to pull back
forces following nearly two months of laying siege. At least 15
people were killed by booby-traps and in ambushes set up by Gaddafi
brigades while withdrawing from Misrata. NATO air raids struck near
a compound in the capital Tripoli where Kadhafi resides. The US
carried out its first Predator drone strike in Libya. A US Predator
drone destroyed a multiple rocket launcher in the Misrata area that
was being used against civilians.
(AFP, 4/23/11)(Reuters, 4/23/11)(AP, 4/24/11)
2011 Apr 24, Libyan rebel
fighters drove Moammar Gadhafi's forces to the edge of Misrata,
taking control of the main hospital where government troops had been
holed up. At least 28 people have been killed and 85 wounded by
fighting in the city over the last 24 hours. Salvos of Grad rockets
exploded In Misrata in apparent contradiction of Gadhafi's vow to
halt fire there. Residents said 4 people were killed in the mountain
town of Zintan, around 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Tripoli, by
fire from Gaddafi's tanks and rockets.
(AP, 4/24/11)(AFP, 4/24/11)(AP, 4/25/11)(AP,
4/25/11)
2011 Apr 24, Kuwait announced a
pledge of "urgent humanitarian aid" to Libyan civilians, through the
Transitional National Council of Libya. The pledge was later said to
be $180 million.
(AFP, 5/7/11)
2011 Apr 25, In Libya Norwegian
F-16s flattened a building inside Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah
compound, in what a press official from Gaddafi's government said
was a NATO attempt on the Libyan leader's life. Refugees fleeing the
Western Mountains told of heavy bombardment by Muammar Gaddafi's
forces as they try to dislodge rebels in remote Berber towns.
(AP, 4/25/11)(Reuters, 4/25/11)(Econ, 4/30/11,
p.52)
2011 Apr 26, In Libya late
night NATO warplanes broke up an attack by pro-Gadhafi forces in
Misrata.
(AP, 4/27/11)
2011 Apr 27, Libya's tribes
urged Moamer Kadhafi to cede power, as rebels backed by NATO air
strikes said they forced the strongman's missiles out of range of
the lifeline port of Misrata. Gaddafi forces fired Russian-made Grad
missiles into the rebel-held town of Zintan. A NATO airstrike in
Misrata reportedly killed 12 rebels.
(AFP, 4/27/11)(Reuters, 4/27/11)(AP, 4/28/11)
2011 Apr 28, Libyan government
forces closed on rebel outposts, showering the western mountain city
of Zintan with missiles and attacking insurgents holed up near the
Tunisian border. Pro-Gaddafi forces also shelled rebel positions
around the Dehiba-Wazin border crossing with Tunisia. 7 insurgents
were killed overnight when a checkpoint in Misrata came under rocket
and heavy artillery fire.
(Reuters, 4/28/11)
2011 Apr 29, In Libya Moammar
Gadhafi's forces holed up inside the airport in the key western city
of Misrata have been shelling a civilian neighborhood around it.
Rebels said at least two men died in the morning fighting. NATO
warships intercepted several boats laying anti-shipping mines
outside the harbor of Misrata. Forces loyal to Gaddafi fought a gun
battle with Tunisian troops in a frontier town.
(AP, 4/29/11)(Reuters, 4/29/11)
2011 Apr 30, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi said he was ready for a ceasefire and negotiations
provided NATO "stop its planes," but he refused to give up power as
rebels and Western powers demand. Rebels and NATO rejected the
offer, as Gaddafi’s forces pressed an offensive against the key port
city of Misrata. Gadhafi escaped a NATO missile strike in Tripoli,
but his youngest son, Seif al-Arab (29), and three grandchildren
under the age of 12 were killed. Gaddafi forces entered the towns of
Jalu and Awlijah opened fire, killing at least five civilians and
wounding more than 10.
(Reuters, 4/30/11)(AFP, 4/30/11)(AP,
4/30/11)(Reuters, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, Britain’s Foreign
Secretary William Hague said he was expelling the Libyan ambassador
to London following attacks on British embassy premises in Tripoli
blamed on Moamer Kadhafi's forces.
(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, A seemingly endless
flow of Libyans crossed into Tunisia from Libya at the Dehiba border
post, a day after a record 5,000 refugees fled the conflict in their
country.
(AP, 5/2/11)
2011 May 2, In Libya Gadhafi's
forces used tanks to shell the besieged western town of Misrata, as
rumors fueled fears that the Libyan leader was preparing to use
chemical weapons. Shelling in Misrata killed 14 people.
(AP, 5/2/11)(AFP, 5/3/11)
2011 May 2, The Swiss
government said it has identified potential assets belonging to
Libya’s Moammar Khadafy and his entourage amounting to $415 million.
Assets of $473 million were also found linked to Egypt’s Hosni
Mubarak and $69 million to Tunisia’s Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
(SFC, 5/3/11, p.AA2)
2011 May 4, In Libya Gadhafi's
forces shelled Zintan a rebel town and a key supply route, part of a
push to crush stubborn resistance in the mountains of western Libya.
(AP, 5/4/11)
2011 May 5, In Libya NATO air
strikes reportedly destroyed at least two helicopters near the town
of Zintan as government forces transported them on trucks. Small
helicopters flew over Misrata dropping mines into the harbor of
Misrata. Rebels said the helicopters were marked with the Red Cross
sign.
(Reuters, 5/5/11)(AFP, 5/7/11)
2011 May 5, In Italy an
international meeting on Libya agreed to set up a new fund to aid
Libyan rebels, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promising
Washington would tap frozen assets of Moamer Kadhafi's regime.
(AFP, 5/5/11)
2011 May 6, Moamer Kadhafi's
regime reacted angrily to a NATO-led decision to provide funding to
the three-month-old rebellion against his rule in Libya, describing
as "piracy" plans to tap its assets frozen abroad.
(AP, 5/6/11)
2011 May 6, A ship carrying up
to 600 migrants trying to flee Libya sank off the coast of the North
African country. At least three other boats that departed Libya in
late March have disappeared, bringing to 800 the number of people
believed to have perished at sea trying to reach European shores.
(AP, 5/9/11)
2011 May 6, France ordered 14
diplomats loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to leave the
country within 48 hours.
(AP, 5/6/11)
2011 May 7, In Libya forces
loyal to Moamer Kadhafi fired on the lifeline port in the besieged
city of Misrata and hit several fuel depots.
(AFP, 5/7/11)
2011 May 8, In Libya intense
fighting erupted near Misrata as smoke billowed from fuel depots
bombed by regime forces laying siege to the lifeline port city where
rebels awaited arms from Italy.
(AFP, 5/8/11)
2011 May 9, In Libya NATO
planes pounded government weapons depots southeast of the town of
Zintan, in a sign of widening conflict in the Western Mountains
region as rebels battled to unseat Muammar Gaddafi. Rebels were
reported to have found a way to access badly needed cash, selling
oil worth $100 million paid for through a Qatari bank in US dollars.
(Reuters, 5/9/11)
2011 May 9, The Gambian high
court granted an application allowing the government to seize
millions of dollars worth of Libyan assets "until a government
recognized by the United Nations is in place in Libya."
(AFP, 5/9/11)
2011 May 10, In Libya NATO
warplanes struck a command center in Tripoli in the heaviest bombing
of the Libyan capital in weeks. Rebels, capitalizing on other NATO
air strikes, reported battlefront gains that could ease the siege of
the port city of Misrata.
(AP, 5/10/11)
2011 May 11, In Libya rebels
took total control of the airport in southern Misrata after two days
of fighting that left five rebels killed and 105 injured. Five
French nationals were stopped at a police checkpoint in Benghazi in
the rebel-held east of Libya. 4 were released on May 21. A fifth
Frenchman, Pierre Marziali, was shot and wounded and later died in a
Benghazi hospital.
(AP, 5/11/11)(SFC, 5/12/11, p.A3)(Reuters,
5/21/11)
2011 May 12, NATO airstrikes
struck Moammar Gadhafi's sprawling compound in Tripoli and three
other sites reportedly killing 3 people, hours after the Libyan
leader was shown on state TV in his first appearance since his son
was killed nearly two weeks ago.
(AP, 5/12/11)(AFP, 5/12/11)
2011 May 13, In Libya NATO
launched more airstrikes in Tripoli as Moammar Gadhafi's regime
faced open defiance on the ground, with activists reporting
gunfights between protesters and soldiers in several of the
capital's neighborhoods. Libyan rebels met senior White House
officials in Washington to seek cash and diplomatic legitimacy in
their battle to topple Gaddafi. The US stopped short of granting
Libyan rebels full diplomatic recognition, as Mahmud Jibril became
the opposition's first senior official to have talks at the White
House. Libya’s government accused the alliance of killing the 11
clerics as they were sleeping in a guesthouse. Government spokesman
Moussa Ibrahim said those killed were part of a group that had
gathered to pray for peace in the oil town of Brega.
(AP, 5/13/11)(Reuters, 5/13/11)(AP, 5/14/11)(AFP,
5/14/11)
2011 May 13, Libyan students
attending college in the US expected to lose financial support,
effective May 31, after Libya lost access to about $30 billion in
assets that were frozen by the United Nations and the US as a result
of the military conflict in that country.
(AP, 5/13/11)
2011 May 14, In Libya NATO
conducted 147 air sorties, 48 of them strike sorties that aimed to
identify and hit targets but not always deploy munitions. Targets
included surface-to-air missile launchers, ammunition stores and
artillery pieces.
(AP, 5/16/11)
2011 May 14, Tunisian army
troops deployed along the border thwarted an attempt by 200 troops
from Gadhafi's army to cross the border aboard some 50 off-road
vehicles. 3 pro-Gadhafi officers who defected landed at Tunisia's
port of Zarzis on a boat. 2 people suspected of links to al-Qaida's
North African affiliate were arrested overnight, one with a belt of
explosives and the other carrying a grenade.
(AP, 5/15/11)
2011 May 15, In Libya NATO
aircraft blasted an oil terminal in the eastern port of Ras Lanouf.
(SFC, 5/16/11, p.A2)
2011 May 16, Luis
Moreno-Ocampo, International Criminal Court prosecutor, sought an
arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi accusing him of
committing crimes against humanity by killing protesters during an
uprising against his 41-year rule.
(Reuters, 5/16/11)
2011 May 16, Libya's oil
minister, Shukri Ghanem, reportedly defected and fled to Tunisia,
one of the highest profile figures to abandon Moammar Gadhafi's
government. Ghanem’s defection was later questioned as he maintained
ties to oil firms. Overnight air strikes by NATO set fire to two
buildings near Kadhafi's compound in the Libyan capital.
(AP, 5/17/11)(AFP, 5/17/11)(Reuters, 5/24/11)
2011 May 17, In Libya Gadhafi
forces started attacking the Maraba pass on the edge of the Nafusa
mountains. Rebels lost 10 men to artillery and sniper fire.
(Econ, 5/28/11, p.53)
2011 May 17, Canada announced
it has decided to expel five Libyan diplomats for actions it called
"inappropriate."
(AFP, 5/17/11)
2011 May 18, The Libyan
government released four foreign journalists. Americans Clare
Morgana Gillis and James Foley, British freelance reporter Nigel
Chandler and Spanish photographer Manuel Varela, appeared at a
Tripoli hotel after being released from six weeks detention.
(AP, 5/19/11)
2011 May 19, In Libya Gadhafi
forces shelled the main rebel stronghold in the strategic Nafusa
mountains southwest of the Libyan capital, pounding the area with
rockets.
(AP, 5/19/11)
2011 May 20, In Libya NATO
fighter jets struck three ports in bombing runs overnight, targeting
Gadhafi's navy with a goal of protecting the nearby rebel-held port
of Misrata. A NATO strike this morning hit a police academy in the
Tripoli neighborhood of Tajoura. An international aid group said
that 3,800 Chadians who fled fighting in Libya are stranded in a
remote desert town in northern Chad. NATO warplanes bombed command
centers near Tripoli and in the southwest as part of a continuing
effort to cut communications links between Gadhafi and his units on
the battlefields.
(AP, 5/20/11)(AP, 5/21/11)
2011 May 22, In Libya NATO
warplanes carried out raids against the port of Tripoli and the
residence of Moamer Kadhafi near the center of the capital.
(AFP, 5/22/11)
2011 May 22, The European Union
established formal diplomatic contact with the opposition seeking to
topple Moammar Gadhafi by opening an office in the eastern rebel
stronghold of Benghazi and promised support for a democratic Libya.
(AP, 5/22/11)
2011 May 23, A French
diplomatic source said France and other members of a NATO-led
coalition plan to deploy attack helicopters in Libya, a move aimed
at ramping up pressure against Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
(Reuters, 5/23/11)
2011 May 24, The Libyan rebel
council fighting to oust Muammar Gaddafi said it will open an office
in Paris but a representative has not yet been named. Top US
official Jeffrey Feltman said Libya's rebels have accepted an
invitation to open a representative office in Washington as he
renewed a US call for Moamer Kadhafi to step down immediately.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Libyan forces
loyal to Muammar Gaddafi cut electricity supplies to much of the
Western Mountains, threatening water supplies and stepping up a war
of attrition with rebels who hold the plateau. NATO launched its
most intense bombardment yet against Gadhafi's Tripoli stronghold.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said at least 3 people were
killed.
(Reuters, 5/29/11)(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 25, A Libyan rebel
commander said his fighters have clashed with Sudanese mercenaries
fighting for Moammar Gadhafi near the border with Sudan, destroying
one of their weapons-laden vehicles.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 25, President Barack
Obama warned Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi there would be 'no let
up' in pressure on him to go, following a second successive night of
heavy NATO bombing in Tripoli.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 26, Libya’s government
pushed a cease fire proposal. African leaders demanded an outright
end to NATO air strikes on Libya. Spain says it and other European
governments have received a message from Libyan PM Baghdadi
al-Mahmoudi proposing an immediate cease-fire in his country's war.
Global Witness said Goldman Sachs and HSBC together held $335
million of the Libyan oil fund's assets, while Societe Generale held
$1 billion in structured products for the fund.
(AFP, 5/26/11)(AP, 5/26/11)(Reuters,
5/26/11)(SFC, 5/27/11, p.A2)
2011 May 27, NATO reported that
Moamer Kadhafi's forces had laid landmines in Misrata. Russia joined
the call of Western powers for Kadhafi to step down as G8 leaders
met in France.
(AFP, 5/27/11)
2011 May 28, NATO aircraft
destroyed the guard towers at Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli,
then staged a rare daytime air strike, heightening pressure on him
to quit.
(Reuters, 5/28/11)
2011 May 29, It was reported
that 259 Libyan women responded on questionnaires that they have
been raped by militiamen loyal to Moammar Khadafy.
(SSFC, 5/29/11, p.A6)
2011 May 30, South Africa
President Jacob Zuma arrived in Tripoli for talks on ending the
Libyan conflict as NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Moamer
Kadhafi's "reign of terror" was near its end. 5 generals, 2 colonels
and a major announced they had defected from Kadhafi's forces, and
said the regime's army was now at 20-percent capacity.
(AFP, 5/30/11)(AFP, 5/31/11)
2011 May 31, NATO pounded
Tripoli, only hours after South African President Jacob Zuma left
Libya's capital having failed to close the gap between Kadhafi and
rebels fighting to oust him since February. Zuma said Kadhafi was
"ready to implement the roadmap of the AU" and that he had insisted
"all Libyans be given a chance to talk among themselves" to
determine the country's future.
(AFP, 5/31/11)
2011 Jun 1, NATO agreed to
extend its Libyan air war by three months and dismissed charges by
Moamer Kadhafi's regime that the bombing campaign has already killed
718 civilians. Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem said in Rome that
he now supports the rebel insurgency who have set up a de-facto
capital in Benghazi. A UN panel said government forces have
committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in a conflict that
has left an estimated 10-15 thousand people dead.
(AP, 6/1/11)(AP, 6/2/11)(SFC, 6/2/11, p.A4)
2011 Jun 2, NATO blasted
Tripoli with a series of air strikes, sending shuddering booms
through the city. Official Tunisian news reported that another 13
servicemen loyal to Gadhafi, including a colonel and four
commanders, have fled to neighboring Tunisia. It was the second
group of military men to defect to Tunisia this week.
(AP, 6/2/11)
2011 Jun 3, In Libya a series
of at least 10 NATO strikes hit in and around Tripoli, targeting
military barracks close to Gadhafi's sprawling compound, a police
station and a military base. A rebel military leader said his troops
had broken the siege of two towns in the western Nafusa mountain
range, Yefren and Shakshuk. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that
China's ambassador to Qatar had recently met with the head of
Libya's rebel council.
(AP, 6/3/11)
2011 Jun 4, In Libya British
Apache and French attack helicopters struck targets for the first
time in NATO's campaign, hitting Moammar Gadhafi's troops near a key
coastal oil city.
(AP, 6/4/11)
2011 Jun 4, Japan’s Yomiuri
Shimbun newspaper reported that Japan has frozen $4.4 billion in
assets belonging to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and his entourage
under the terms of a UN Security Council resolution.
(AFP, 6/4/11)
2011 Jun 5, In Libya NATO
pounded Tripoli hours after Britain's top diplomat met rebel chiefs
in Libya and Russia voiced concerns the alliance's military
operation is sliding towards a land campaign.
(AFP, 6/5/11)
2011 Jun 7, The EU imposed
sanctions on 6 ports still held by Colonel Qaddafi. Russian
President Dmitri Medvedev sent an envoy to Libya for the first time
to meet with rebel leaders in the city of Benghazi and promise
support. At least 40 NATO strikes hit Tripoli as Khadafy spoke in an
audio address and vowed never to surrender.
(Econ, 6/18/11, p.53)(AFP, 6/7/11)(SFC, 6/8/11,
p.A4)
2011 Jun 8, In Libya Khadafy
forces shelled Misrata killing 10 rebel fighters.
(SFC, 6/9/11, p.A5)
2011 Jun 9, Nations currently
involved in supporting the rebels in their fight against Libyan
dictator Moammar Khaddafi have pledged more than one billion dollars
in aid to the anti-Khaddafi forces. Among the nations pledging the
aid were Australia, France, Italy, and Turkey.
(NYT, 6/9/11)
2011 Jun 10, Libyan rebels
staged an uprising in the western city of Zlitan. 22 fighters were
reported killed. Turkey’s PM Erdogan said his country has offered to
help Khadafy leave.
(SFC, 6/11/11, p.A4)
2011 Jun 12, In Libya resurgent
rebel forces fought to retake the port city of Zawiya, but were
repelled by Khadafy’s forces.
(SFC, 6/13/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 13, In Libya NATO
attack helicopters struck two of Khadafy’s military boats of the
coast of Misrata.
(SFC, 6/15/11, p.A3)
2011 Jun 14, In Libya NATO
forces resumed airstrikes on the capital city of Tripoli.
Journalists were not told what specific sites were being targeted,
nor how long the bombardments would continue.
(AP, 6/14/11)
2011 Jun 15, The White House
said the United States has spent more than $715 million for military
and humanitarian operations in Libya since unrest began in the north
African country earlier this year.
(AFP, 6/16/11)
2011 Jun 16, In Libya NATO
airstrikes pounded the area near Moammar Gadhafi's compound.
Kadhafi's regime told visiting Russian envoy Mikhail Margelov that
the embattled Libyan leader is "not ready" to go, despite growing
calls for him to quit and a months-long uprising. Muammar Gaddafi’s
son said his father is willing to hold elections and step aside if
he lost, an offer unlikely to placate his opponents but which could
test the unity of the Western alliance trying to force him out. A
NATO air strike took place near Ajdabiyah, eastern Libya, and six
rebel pickup trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns were destroyed
and 16 rebel fighters injured.
(AP, 6/16/11)(AFP, 6/16/11)(Reuters,
6/16/11)(Reuters, 6/18/11)
2011 Jun 17, Libyan rebels and
pro-Gaddafi forces exchanged heavy artillery fire near the western
city of Zlitan as the rebels tried to push deeper into
government-held territory east of the capital.
(AP, 6/17/11)
2011 Jun 17, Italy signed an
agreement with Libyan rebels meant to stem a stream of migrants
fleeing unrest, prompting concerns at the UN refugee agency that
people seeking asylum won't have proper protection.
(AP, 6/17/11)
2011 Jun 17, A 90-day deadline
passed on the American government, under the 1973 War Powers
Resolution, for asking permission from Congress for continuing
hostilities against Libya. Pres. Obama held that America’s
supporting role no longer amounts to hostilities.
(Econ, 6/25/11,
p.44)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution)
2011 Jun 18, Libya's rebel oil
chief accused the West of failing to keep up its promises to deliver
urgent financial aid, saying his authority had now run out of cash
completely after months of fighting. Fighting between forces loyal
to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and rebels trying to close in on his
territory killed at least eight rebels near the northwestern city of
Nalut.
(Reuters, 6/18/11)
2011 Jun 19, The Libyan
government accused NATO of bombing a residential neighborhood in the
capital and killing civilians, adding to its charges that the
alliance is striking nonmilitary targets. 9 people, including two
children, were reported killed. NATO admitted it carried out an air
strike that killed civilians in Tripoli.
(AP, 6/19/11)(Reuters, 6/20/11)
2011 Jun 20, Libya's government
said a NATO airstrike on a large family compound belonging to
Khoweildi al-Hamidi, a close associate of Moammar Gadhafi, killed 13
people, including three children, west of Tripoli. Hamadi escaped
unharmed, but his wife and 2 grandchildren were among the dead. NATO
acknowledged obliterating the compound. On July 28 attorneys for
Hamadi filed a civil lawsuit in Belgium accusing NATO of killing the
13 civilians.
(AP, 6/20/11)(SFC, 6/21/11, p.A2)(AP, 7/28/11)
2011 Jun 21, In Libya a US
drone helicopter lost radar contact with NATO. It was a Fire Scout,
an unmanned US chopper, revealing the use of the new robotic
aircraft in the war.
(AFP, 6/21/11)
2011 Jun 21, China said that a
meeting with Mahmud Jibril, the Libyan rebels' diplomatic chief, who
is in Beijing for a two-day visit, was an effort to seek a quick
solution to the crisis in the North African nation, a situation it
said could not go on.
(Reuters, 6/21/11)
2011 Jun 22, In Libya NATO
warplanes resumed daytime strikes on targets in Tripoli as alliance
member Italy called for the "immediate suspension" of hostilities
there. Gaddafi forces landed rockets in the center of Misrata for
the first time in several weeks.
(AP, 6/22/11)(Reuters, 6/22/11)
2011 Jun 24, In Libya a ship
carrying 51 prisoners docked in Benghazi. 249 people from the West
wishing to be reunited with family in eastern Libya also were on
board.
(AP, 6/24/11)
2011 Jun 24, The war-weary US
House of Representatives delivered a harsh, symbolic rebuke to
President Barack Obama over the conflict in Libya but beat back
efforts to cut funds for direct US air strikes.
(AP, 6/25/11)
2011 Jun 25, Libyan authorities
accused NATO of killing 15 people in an airstrike that hit a
restaurant and bakery in the east, while the alliance said there
were no indications that civilians had died. Two loud explosions
were heard in Tripoli as jets flew over the city. The rebel
authority said 4 members of Libya's national soccer team and 13
other football figures have defected.
(AP, 6/25/11)(Reuters, 6/25/11)
2011 Jun 26, The Libyan
government renewed its offer to hold a vote on whether Muammar
Gaddafi should stay in power, a proposal unlikely to interest
Gaddafi's opponents but which could widen differences inside NATO.
Rebels in the western mountains said they have advanced and are
battling Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Bair al-Ghanam, located around
50 miles (80 km) south of the capital.
(Reuters, 6/26/11)
2011 Jun 27, In Libya NATO
operations entered a 100th day with airstrikes having eased the
siege of key rebel cities but with Moamer Kadhafi still in power and
fears of an open war lingering. Rebels south of Tripoli advanced to
within about 80 km (50 miles) of the capital and fought government
troops for control of the town of Bir al-Ghanam.
(AFP, 6/27/11)(Reuters, 6/27/11)
2011 Jun 27, The International
Criminal Court in the Netherlands issued arrest warrants for Moammar
Gadhafi, his son Seif, and his intelligence chief for crimes against
humanity in the Libyan leader's four-month battle to cling to power.
(AP, 6/27/11)
2011 Jun 29, French daily Le
Figaro reported that France has begun parachuting arms shipments to
Berber rebels fighting Kadhafi's forces in the highlands south of
Tripoli.
(AFP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jul 1, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi threatened to target European "homes, offices,
families" unless NATO halts its bombing campaign.
(AP, 7/2/11)
2011 Jul 1, In Equatorial
Guinea Africa's heads of state signed off on a road map designed to
help Libya emerge from civil war, but carefully dodged the issue of
what role the country's entrenched dictator Moammar Gadhafi should
play in its future government.
(AP, 7/1/11)
2011 Jul 2, NATO said it has
begun ramping up its airstrikes on military targets in the western
part of Libya, where rebel forces claim a string of advances through
territory still largely under Moammar Gadhafi's control.
(AP, 7/2/11)
2011 Jul 3, Turkey's foreign
minister visited Libya and recognized the rebel leaders as the
country's legitimate representatives and promised them an additional
$200 million in aid.
(AP, 7/3/11)
2011 Jul 4, Turkey froze
Libya's holdings in a Turkish bank, a day after it recognized
Libya's rebel leaders as the country's legitimate representatives
and quietly removed its ambassador from Tripoli.
(AP, 7/4/11)
2011 Jul 5, In Libya shelling
by forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi killed 11 people and wounded
dozens more, the majority civilians, around the besieged rebel
enclave of Misrata.
(AFP, 7/5/11)
2011 Jul 6, Libyan rebels
launched a promised assault on a key gateway to Tripoli, attacking
government positions just 50 km (30 miles) from the capital. Rebel
forces moved into Qawalish (Gualish) and Kikla. 18 fighters were
killed and about 30 were injured as fighters seized Al-Qawalish.
Another group advanced to within 13 km of the center of the town of
Zlitan. 2 civilians, including a 12-year-old girl, were killed when
a rocket hit their Misrata house.
(AFP, 7/6/11)(AP, 7/6/11)(Reuters, 7/7/11)
2011 Jul 7, A senior Libyan
official accused NATO of intensifying its bombing campaign and
backing foreign mercenaries to lay the groundwork for an advance by
rebels.
(AP, 7/7/11)
2011 Jul 7, In Libya the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) began an operation to
return home around 2,000 Chadian migrants, mostly women and
children, trapped in Libya.
(AP, 7/9/11)
2011 Jul 8, Thousands of
Libyans poured into Tripoli's main square for mass prayers and a
rally in support of Moammar Gadhafi. Rebels battled to within two km
(one mile) of the center of Zliten town with the loss of five dead
and 17 wounded. NATO struck targets in several areas, including
tanks, rocket launching sites, artillery pieces, military storage
facilities and command and control centers. 4 boats carrying about
1,000 migrants fleeing the conflict arrived on the Italian island of
Lampedusa.
(AP, 7/8/11)(AFP, 7/9/11)
2011 Jul 10, In Libya forces
loyal to Moamer Kadhafi launched a counterattack on against rebel
advance positions 50 km (30 miles) southwest of Tripoli. Rebels
replied with anti-tank fire as they sought to maintain their grip on
Gualish. Rebel troops advancing into the loyalist stronghold of
Zliten said they lost one fighter and had 32 wounded by landmines
laid by Moamer Kadhafi's retreating troops.
(AFP, 7/10/11)
2011 Jul 11, In Libya 4 rebels
were killed and 22 wounded in overnight clashes against forces loyal
to Moamer Kadhafi in the western town of Zliten.
(AFP, 7/11/11)
2011 Jul 13, In Libya Kadhafi
forces caught rebels off guard and attacked Gualish, which the
insurgents captured a week earlier, and seized nearly all of it.
Rebels poured in from surrounding villages and drove the loyalists
out. At least eight rebels were killed and around 30 wounded in the
fighting. The Kadhafi regime said it was seeking to prosecute NATO
chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Libyan courts for "war crimes" over
the alliance's air strikes.
(AFP, 7/14/11)
2011 Jul 14, Libyan forces
repelled a coordinated attack by NATO forces and rebels against the
strategic oil town of Brega.
(AP, 7/15/11)
2011 Jul 14, The Canadian head
of the NATO mission over Libya said Gaddafi has ordered his troops
to blow up refineries and other facilities if they have to retreat.
Russia’s special envoy to Libya told the Izvestia newspaper that
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has a "suicidal plan" to blow up the
capital Tripoli if it is taken by rebels.
(Reuters, 7/14/11)(AFP, 7/14/11)
2011 Jul 15, In a statement
following a meeting in Istanbul of the so-called Contact Group on
Libya, more than 30 nations, including the United States, declared
that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime is no longer legitimate
and formally recognized Libya's main opposition group as the
legitimate government until a new interim authority is created.
(AP, 7/15/11)
2011 Jul 16, In Libya 12 rebel
fighters were killed in an advance on the strategic oil town of
Brega, with rebel forces sweeping the outskirts for land mines so
they could move in.
(AP, 7/16/11)(AFP, 7/17/11)
2011 Jul 17, In Libya rebel
attacks on the eastern oil city of Brega stretched into their fourth
day, with reports of pitched battles in the residential areas. NATO
jets destroyed a military storage facility and other targets in
Tripoli's eastern outskirts.
(AP, 7/17/11)
2011 Jul 19, In Libya
government forces shelled rebel positions near the strategic oil
town of Brega. 27 rebels were killed with 83 wounded. More than 50
rebels have been killed in six days of fighting for Brega.
(AP, 7/19/11)(AP, 7/20/11)
2011 Jul 22, In Libya NATO
planes reportedly struck a pipe factory near the embattled oil city
of Brega killing six guards.
(AP, 7/22/11)
2011 Jul 24, In Libya NATO
warplanes blitzed a string of military targets in Tripoli, as Moamer
Kadhafi blamed a "colonial plot" for the conflict engulfing his
country. The latest NATO strikes came after rebel forces said they
had lost 16 fighters in two days of fighting for Zliten and had
infiltrated the capital and attacked a regime command post where a
son of the strongman was among officials targeted.
(AFP, 7/24/11)
2011 Jul 24, Germany said that
it is loaning Libya's rebel leadership €100 million ($144 million)
to help with the country's rebuilding and humanitarian needs.
(AP, 7/24/11)
2011 Jul 25, The Libyan
government showed foreign journalists a destroyed flu clinic in
Zlitan and food warehouses it said had been hit earlier in the day
by NATO airstrikes, killing eight people. NATO denied that it had
targeted civilians and said it had only hit a number of military
objectives in the area.
(AP, 7/25/11)
2011 Jul 27, Britain officially
recognized Libya's main opposition group as the country's legitimate
government, and expelled all diplomats from Moammar Gadhafi's
regime.
(AP, 7/27/11)
2011 Jul 28, In western Libya
hundreds of rebels launched a broad offensive against government
forces, seizing three small towns and advancing on others to secure
a major supply route near the Tunisian border. Four rebel fighters
were killed and several wounded. Abdel-Fattah Younis, the rebel
military chief, was killed along with two aides while on route to
Benghazi for questioning by rebel authorities. Younis was Gadhafi's
interior minister before defecting to the rebels early in the
uprising. Rebel minister Ali Tarhouni later said Younes was killed
by the Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade, which was mainly comprised of
former prisoners of Gaddafi's notorious Abu Salim prison in the
capital Tripoli, who had always distrusted Younes.
(AP, 7/28/11)(AP, 7/29/11)(Reuters, 7/30/11)
2011 Jul 30, NATO warplanes
bombed three Libyan state TV satellite transmitters in Tripoli
overnight, targeting facilities that have been used to incite
violence and threaten civilians. 3 state television journalists were
killed and 15 other people were reported wounded.
(AP, 7/30/11)(AP, 7/31/11)
2011 Jul 31, Libya's rebels
overran the base of a rogue faction, members of the al-Nidaa
Brigade, suspected of breaking pro-Gadhafi fighters out of an
opposition prison. The violence came two days after suspected
al-Nidaa members attacked two prisons in Benghazi, facilitating the
escape of some 200 to 300 inmates, including mercenaries,
pro-Gadhafi fighters and regime loyalists.
(AP, 7/31/11)
2011 Aug 1, In Libya forces
loyal to Kadhafi were again in control of the village of Josh at the
foot of the western Nafusa mountains. Rebels had taken the village a
day earlier.
(AFP, 8/1/11)
2011 Aug 2, A boat carrying 330
migrants from Libya arrived late in the day on the Italian island of
Lampedusa, a day after officials found 25 people choked to death in
the engine room of another Libyan refugee boat.
(AFP, 8/3/11)
2011 Aug 3, Libya’s Seif
al-Islam Kadhafi, the high-profile son of leader Moammar Gadhafi,
said his family had forged an alliance with Islamist rebels among
the insurgents to drive out the secular opposition to his father's
40-year rule. He claimed to have negotiated the pact with Ali
Sallabi, a leading Islamist in the rebel-held east. Sallabi
acknowledged their conversations but denied the Islamists had
switched sides. Rebels reportedly seized the Cartagena, which NATO
had prevented from delivering oil to Tripoli.
(AFP, 8/4/11)(Econ, 8/6/11, p.38)
2011 Aug 5, Libya's rebels said
they have reports that Moammar Gadhafi's youngest son, was killed in
a NATO airstrike in the western town of Zlitan. Khamis Gadhafi (27)
commanded one of the regime's strongest military brigades. He was
reportedly among 32 troops killed when NATO hit a government
operations center. Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said Khamis
is alive. NATO reportedly struck and destroyed a caravan of camels
carrying heavy caliber machine guns, mortars and ammunition from
neighboring Chad. State television later said 33 children and 32
women were among 85 people killed in the NATO attack.
(AP, 8/5/11)(AP, 8/6/11)(AP, 8/11/11)
2011 Aug 6, Libyan rebels
fighting Moammar Gadhafi's forces in the country's west launched a
major push toward key towns along the Mediterranean coast near the
capital Tripoli. NATO warplanes attacked 45 targets across Libya,
including an ammunition storage facility and a multiple rocket
launcher system in the Bir Ghanam area.
(AP, 8/6/11)(AFP, 8/7/11)
2011 Aug 7, Libyan PM Baghdadi
Mahmudi said government troops have recaptured the strategic town of
Bir Ghanam, southwest of Tripoli, from rebel forces.
(AFP, 8/7/11)
2011 Aug 8, In Libya a rebel
spokesman in Misrata said forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi had
launched an assault on rebel positions in Zliten's Souk Telat area,
killing 3 and wounding 15. A rebel source at Al-Qusbat, around 90 km
(55 miles) east of Tripoli, said that town was living through its
fourth day under siege. Libya's rebels sacked their executive
committee. Mahmoud Jibril, who was the head of the outgoing
committee, was asked to form a new board.
(AFP, 8/8/11)(AP, 8/9/11)
2011 Aug 10, Libyan state
television broadcast images of a man it said was Moammar Gadhafi's
youngest son, Khamis Gadhafi. The national council chief Mustafa
Abdel-Jalil ordered all fighters to be incorporated into the
national liberation army individually. 5 rebels were reported killed
when regime forces attacked the rebel-held town of Bir Ghanam. The
European Union said it was adding two more Libyan businesses to its
list of companies and individuals targeted by sanctions. Fresh
fighting meanwhile erupted at the strategic oil town of Brega.
(AP, 8/10/11)(AP, 8/11/11)(AFP, 8/11/11)
2011 Aug 11, Libyan loyalists
killed one rebel and wounded 10 others as the insurgents moved on
the town of Taurga in a bid to snuff out rocket fire on the besieged
city of Misrata. Rebel fighters gained control of a residential unit
in Brega. 11 rebels died in the clashes and 40 were wounded.
(AFP, 8/11/11)(AP, 8/12/11)
2011 Aug 12, Libya's news
agency, JANA, reported that those carrying a satellite phone without
a permit could be sentenced to death as punishment for treason.
(AP, 8/12/11)
2011 Aug 13, Libya's rebels
fought with regime troops for control of Gharyan, a key mountain
town that is a strategic gateway on the road to Tripoli.
(AP, 8/13/11)
2011 Aug 14, Libyan rebels and
troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi fought for control of Zawiya, a day
after opposition forces pushed from the western mountains into the
strategic city in their most dramatic advance in months. Rebel
officials said they had captured the town of Gharyan, 50 miles (80
km) south of Tripoli, which sits on the supply road from southern
Libya to the capital. Rebels said they also captured the town of
Surman.
(AP, 8/14/11)(AP, 8/15/11)
2011 Aug 15, Libya's interior
minister, Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah, and nine of his family members
flew into Cairo from Tunisia on their private plane in what appeared
to be the highest level defection from Moammar Gadhafi's regime in
months. Rebels consolidated positions in some parts of Zawiya, but
appeared to have lost ground in others. In an audio message Gadhafi
urged his supporters to dig in and fight.
(AP, 8/15/11)
2011 Aug 16, In Libya rebels
clashed with Gadhafi troops for control of the refinery in Brega. A
rebel doctor said 18 rebels had been killed and 74 injured.
(AP, 8/17/11)
2011 Aug 17, In Libya rebels
battled Moammar Gadhafi loyalists for control over the only
functioning oil refinery in the western city of Zawiya, as the
opposition tried to cut off fuel supplies to the regime's stronghold
of Tripoli. NATO warplanes sunk a tugboat carrying troops loyal to
Gadhafi away from Zawiya as rebels advanced closer to Tripoli.
(AP, 8/17/11)(AP, 8/19/11)
2011 Aug 18, In Libya 5 loud
explosions shook the center of Tripoli, as rebels in the western
mountains claimed control of the Zawiya oil refinery. Gadhafi troops
were still in control of Gamal Abdel-Nasser Street and were hiding
in the hospital there. PM al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi said the
government was in negotiations with rebels. NATO planes took out
five tanks in Zawiya. NATO hit four military facilities in Tripoli.
(AP, 8/18/11)(AP, 8/19/11)
2011 Aug 19, In Libya
explosions shook Tripoli as NATO jets were heard circling overhead.
Flames lit up the Tripoli skies near Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya
headquarters and army barracks. Rebel spokesman Mahmoud Shammam said
that Abdel Salam Jalloud, a close Moammar Gadhafi associate, had
fled to a rebel-held area in the western mountains and was on his
way to Europe.
(AP, 8/19/11)
2011 Aug 20, Libyan rebels
gained full control of the strategic western city of Zawiya, pushing
Moammar Gadhafi's troops back on the road east to Tripoli. Rebel
military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani said fighters gained control of
the industrial section of Brega, after having captured its
residential areas last week.
(AP, 8/20/11)
2011 Aug 21, In Libya large
anti-regime protests erupted in several Tripoli neighborhoods where
thousands braved the bullets of snipers perched atop high buildings.
At the same time, hundreds of rebel forces advanced to within 15
miles west of the capital and were rushing forward in pickup trucks
and on foot. Rebels swarmed into Tripoli late in the day and
restored the country’s internet connection.
(AP, 8/21/11)(AP, 8/22/11)(Econ, 8/27/11, p.11)
2011 Aug 22, Libyan rebels
claimed to be in control of most of Tripoli after their lightning
advance heralded the fall of Moammar Gadhafi's nearly 42-year
regime. Scattered battles erupted, and the mercurial leader's
whereabouts remained unknown. NATO said it will continue its combat
air patrols over Libya until all pro-Gadhafi forces surrender or
return to barracks.
(AP, 8/22/11)
2011 Aug 23, In Libya fierce
fighting erupted around Moammar Gadhafi's main military compound in
Tripoli, hours after the Libyan leader's son and heir apparent
turned up free to thwart Libyan rebel claims he had been captured
and rally supporters. 64 NATO airstrikes turned the Bab al-Azizya
military compound to rubble. A representative from Sirte on the
rebels' National Transitional Council said that the situation in the
city was extremely volatile because Gadhafi brigades had retreated
to the city after fleeing the Brega oil terminal. Loyalist guards in
Tripoli opened fired at some 130 civilian detainees in a lockup, a
hangar, and fired again when prisoners tried to flee.
(AP, 8/23/11)(AP, 8/28/11)
2011 Aug 24, In Libya
pro-regime snipers cut off the road to Tripoli's airport, fired at
motorists near the capital's port and launched repeated attacks on
Moammar Gadhafi's government compound, stormed by thousands of
rebels a day earlier. Dozens of foreign journalists were released at
the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli. Rebels offered a $2 million bounty for
Gadhafi.
(AP, 8/24/11)(SFC, 8/25/11, p.A3)
2011 Aug 25, Libyan rebels
battled forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi on the streets of
Tripoli. European officials confirmed that small numbers of
British, French and other special forces have been working inside
Libya in recent months. It was reported that the bullet-riddled
bodies of over 30 pro-Khadafy fighters were found at a military
encampment in central Tripoli.
(AP, 8/25/11)(SFC, 8/26/11, p.A2)
2011 Aug 26, In Libya British
warplanes struck a large bunker in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of
Sirte, his largest remaining stronghold, as NATO turned its
attention to loyalist forces battling advancing Libyan rebels in the
area. The two main tribes in Sirte, the Gadhadhfa and the Urfali,
remained loyal to the Libyan leader. About 80 decomposing bodies
were found in an abandoned hospital in Tripoli.
(AP, 8/26/11)(AFP, 8/26/11)
2011 Aug 27, In Libya rebels
claimed victory over the suburb of Qasr bin Ghashir, near Tripoli's
airport, after an overnight battle. Egyptian news agency MENA
reported from Tripoli that six armored Mercedes sedans have crossed
the border at the southwestern Libyan town of Ghadamis into Algeria.
Khamis Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Senussi were reportedly killed by a
unit of the national liberation army during clashes in Tarhouna.
Khamis had been reported dead twice before during the uprising.
(AP, 8/27/11)(Reuters, 8/29/11)
2011 Aug 27, Tunisia arrested a
member of Libya's pro-Kadhafi forces in the southeast of the country
for planning attacks on Libyan refugees and rebel supporters.
(AFP, 8/27/11)
2011 Aug 28, Libyan rebels
rejected an offer by Moammar Gadhafi to negotiate and said they have
captured the eastern town of Bin Jawwad, forcing regime loyalists to
flee after days of fighting. A reporter found some 50 charred
corpses in a makeshift lockup near a military base that had been run
by the Khamis Brigade, an elite unit commanded by Gadhafi's son,
Khamis.
(AP, 8/28/11)
2011 Aug 28, Security sources
said hundreds of armed Tuaregs from Mali and Niger who fought for
toppled Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi have started to return to their
home nations.
(AFP, 8/28/11)
2011 Aug 29, Libyan members of
the National Transitional Council announced further steps to
becoming an effective government. Suleiman Mahmoud al-Obeidi, the
rebels' deputy military chief, announced the formation of a
17-member committee to represent the 30 or local military councils
he said had been set up in the country's west. Moammar Gadhafi's
wife, Safiya Gadhafi, her daughter Aisha and sons Hannibal and
Mohammed entered Algeria.
(AP, 8/29/11)(AP, 8/30/11)
2011 Aug 30, Libyan rebels
pledged to launch an assault within days on Sirte, Moammar Gadhafi's
hometown. Rebels told Khadafy backers to give up by Sep 3 or face
assault. Gadhafi's daughter gave birth to a baby girl in Algeria.
NATO planes bombed Gaddafi forces near Sirte, targeting tanks and
other armored vehicles as well as military facilities. They also hit
targets in the area of Bani Walid, another Gaddafi stronghold 150 km
southeast of Tripoli.
(AP, 8/30/11)(Reuters, 8/31/11)(SFC, 8/31/11,
p.A3)
2011 Aug 31, Libyans delighted
at Muammar Gaddafi's downfall celebrated the end of Ramadan feast,
even though the ousted leader remains on the run and forces loyal to
him defied an ultimatum set by Libya's interim council.
(Reuters, 8/31/11)
2011 Sep 1, Libyan rebels
extended the deadline for the surrender of Gadhafi's hometown of
Sirte, originally set for Sep 3, giving the loyalist forces there
one more week to surrender. Rebels said they have captured Foreign
Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi. 60 world leaders and top-level envoys
met in Paris on Libya's future.
(AP, 9/1/11)
2011 Sep 1, Russia recognized
Libya's rebels as the governing authority in the country.
(AFP, 9/1/11)
2011 Sep 3, Libya’s new
civilian leaders put all military commanders in Tripoli under their
control in an effort to reign in Islamist influence and paper over
internal tensions.
(SSFC, 9/4/11, p.A6)
2011 Sep 4, Libyan rebels said
that tribal leaders in Bani Walid, a besieged pro-Moammar Gadhafi
stronghold, are divided over what to do and will likely surrender
rather than see their followers fight one another. NATO reported
bombing a military barracks, a police camp and several other targets
near Sirte overnight.
(AP, 9/4/11)
2011 Sep 5, In Libya rebels
reportedly arrested Khalid Kaim, Gadhafi's deputy foreign minister
in Tripoli. A large convoy of Gadhafi loyalists rolled into the
central Niger town of Agadez. At the head of the convoy was Tuareg
rebel leader Rissa ag Boula.
(AP, 9/6/11)
2011 Sep 5, The EU's
counter-terrorism coordinator said Al-Qaeda's north African branch
has acquired a stockpile of weapons in Libya, including
surface-to-air missiles threatening air travel.
(AFP, 9/5/11)
2011 Sep 6, In Libya tribal
elders from one of Moammar Gadhafi's last strongholds tried to
persuade regime loyalists holed up there to lay down their arms.
Mansour Dao, Gadhafi's security chief, was at the head of the first
convoy to roll into Niamey, the capital of Niger. NATO made a number
of airstrikes around Sirte, hitting six tanks, six armored fighting
vehicles and an ammunition storage facility, among other targets.
They also targeted the Gadhafi loyalist strongholds of Hun, Sabha
and Waddan.
(AP, 9/6/11)(AP, 9/7/11)
2011 Sep 8, In Libya Moammar
Gadhafi's loyalists fired at least 10 rockets from inside Bani
Walid, one of his last strongholds, hours after the ousted leader
urged his fighters to crush opponents he ridiculed as "germs, rats
and scumbags." The barrage followed a close-quarters gunfight in the
same area between a patrol of fighters and several loyalist youths
in a civilian car. One of the Gadhafi gunmen was killed. NATO said
overnight bombing targets included 5 armored vehicles near Sirte and
18 surface-to-air missile systems near the town of Waddan. (AP,
9/8/11)
2011 Sep 9, In Libya
revolutionary forces battled loyalists near the Gadhafi hometown of
Sirte, but withdrew after heavy casualties. Gadhafi holdouts fired
mortars and rockets from Bani Walid. Interpol said it has issued its
top most-wanted alert for the arrest of Gadhafi, his son Seif
al-Islam and the country's ex-chief of military intelligence, all
sought by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes
against humanity. Niger Justice Minister Amadou Morou said that the
Libyan chief of staff of the air force, his pilot and the commanders
of two Libyan military regions have arrived in Niger.
(AP, 9/9/11)(AP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 10, Libyan fighters
battled with Moammar Gadhafi loyalists as more volunteers poured in
from Tripoli and other towns held by the former rebels to join what
they expect to be the final battle for Bani Walid. Fighters launched
a widespread assault on Bani Walid but then withdrew for "tactical
reasons."
(AP, 9/10/11)(AFP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 10, The International
Monetary Fund said it now recognizes the transitional government in
Libya, paving the way for the fledgling administration to benefit
from the IMF's financial help.
(AFP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 11, In Libya NATO
warplanes struck several targets in areas still loyal to fugitive
leader Moammar Gadhafi. At least 12 people were killed and 16
wounded when a brigade from Gharyan and Kikla came under fire at the
western town of Asabah. Many people in Asabah were Kadhafi
supporters. 20 of his fighters were reported captured during the
fighting. Anti-Gadhafi forces in Tripoli captured the former head of
the regime's external intelligence service, Abu Zayd Dourda. Rebel
fighters pushed back into Bani Walid. A convoy carrying al-Saadi
Gadhafi (37), son of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi, crossed into
neighboring Niger.
(AP, 9/11/11)(AFP, 9/11/11)
2011 Sep 12, In Libya suspected
Moammar Gadhafi's loyalists staged twin attacks at the key Ras Lanuf
oil refinery in possibly coordinated strikes that suggest
revolutionary forces still face resistance in areas under their
control. At least 15 attackers were killed. Rebels captured most of
the northern half of Bani Walid.
(AP, 9/12/11)
2011 Sep 13, In Libya NATO
warplanes pounded targets in a number of strongholds of support for
fugitive dictator Moammar Gadhafi, as an offensive by revolutionary
forces on Bani Walid, a key loyalist town, stalled.
(AP, 9/13/11)
2011 Sep 14, In Libya NATO
airstrikes hit targets 24 targets near the three main strongholds of
Gadhafi's supporters, his hometown of Sirte, Bani Walid, Sabha, as
well as the smaller holdouts of Waddan and Zillah.
(AP, 9/15/11)
2011 Sep 15, British PM David
Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave Libya's new rulers
strong support during a landmark visit to Tripoli, vowing to release
billions of dollars more in frozen assets and to push ahead with
NATO strikes against Gadhafi's last strongholds. 11 fighters were
killed and 34 wounded in a first assault on Sirte launched before
sunset.
(AP, 9/15/11)(AFP, 9/16/11)
2011 Sep 16, Libyan
revolutionary forces faced fierce resistance as they streamed into
Bani Walid and Sirte, among the last remaining bastions of support
for Moammar Gadhafi. The battles coincide with a visit to Tripoli by
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The UN General Assembly also voted
to give Libya's seat in the world body to the National Transitional
Council.
(AP, 9/16/11)(AP, 9/17/11)
2011 Sep 19, In Libya fierce
fighting raged in Bani Walid as new regime fighters attacked the
oasis town where a son of Moamer Kadhafi is believed holed up.
General Belgacem Al-Abaaj, Kadhafi's intelligence chief in the Al
Khofra region, was captured some 100 km (60 miles) from southern
Libyan town of Sabha. 10 people were reported killed in Sabha. Rebel
forces captured the town of Sultana.
(AFP, 9/19/11)(AP, 9/21/11)(AFP, 9/22/11)
2011 Sep 20, Libyan families in
pickup trucks stacked with mattresses and jugs of water fled Moammar
Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte ahead of an expected new push by
revolutionary forces to seize the city from die-hard loyalists of
the fugitive leader. At least 4 people were killed and 7 wounded.
Another 18 people were reported killed in Sabha. Rebel forces
captured Waddan.
(AP, 9/20/11)(AP, 9/21/11)(AFP, 9/22/11)
2011 Sep 21, In Libya NATO
airstrikes pounded an area in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte as
revolutionary forces surrounding the city came under rocket fire.
NATO allies agreed to extend their air campaign in Libya by another
90 days. Rebel forces captured the base between Waddan and Hun at
dawn and took Hun during the day. Rebels began a 3-day attack on the
region of the al-Meshashya tribe, which had earlier pledged support
for Gadhafi. Public property was destroyed, private cars and farm
animals were stolen, and homes were burned.
(AP, 9/21/11)(AFP, 9/21/11)(AFP, 9/22/11)(AP,
9/28/11)
2011 Sep 22, Libyan commanders
said that new regime forces were in control of all three main towns
in the Al-Jufra oasis. NATO said that its aircraft had again pounded
Kadhafi's remaining armor.
(AFP, 9/22/11)
2011 Sep 23, In Libya Kadhafi
spokesman Mussa Ibrahim called for continued resolve against "agents
and traitors." A fighter for the interim government helping
desperate residents flee Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte was killed and
a packed family car was destroyed when pro-Kadhafi forces fired on
their convoy. The UN atomic agency confirmed the existence of raw
uranium in Libya.
(AFP, 9/23/11)
2011 Sep 23, French oil giant
Total said it had restarted production from an offshore oil platform
off Libya, making it the first major to return to work since the
fall of Kadhafi.
(AFP, 9/26/11)
2011 Sep 24, In Libya hundreds
of revolutionary fighters pushed into Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of
Sirte in the first significant assault in about a week as the new
rulers try to rout remaining loyalists of the fugitive leader. 7 men
were killed and 152 wounded, 17 seriously. Gunmen loyal to Gadhafi
crossed the Libyan border from Algeria and attacked revolutionary
forces in Ghadamis near the frontier, killing six people.
(AP, 9/24/11)(AFP, 9/24/11)(AP, 9/25/11)
2011 Sep 26, Hundreds of Libyan
civilians fled Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte to escape growing
shortages of food and medicine and escalating fears that their homes
will be struck during fighting between revolutionaries forces and
regime loyalists.
(AP, 9/26/11)
2011 Sep 26, Italian oil giant
ENI said it has resumed oil production in Libya more than six months
after civil unrest brought oil and gas output in the country to a
near standstill.
(AFP, 9/26/11)
2011 Sep 27, Libyan
revolutionary forces battled their way into the eastern outskirts of
Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, in a bid to link up with
anti-Gadhafi fighters besieging the city from the west and tighten
the noose around the loyalist stronghold. Anti-Kadhafi fighters
overran Sirte's port. A member of the NTC said that formation of a
transitional government, already delayed by squabbling over
power-sharing, has been postponed until the entire country is
liberated.
(AP, 9/27/11)(AFP, 9/27/11)
2011 Sep 29, In Libya Moamer
Kadhafi diehards fought pitched battles with combatants loyal to the
new rulers for control of the ousted despot's birthplace Sirte, with
the heaviest fighting at the port. Interpol placed another of ousted
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's sons on the equivalent of its
most-wanted list, placing pressure on the government of Niger to
surrender a man accused of overseeing bloody repressions. Kadhafi
sons Seif al-Islam was said to be in Bani Walid and Mutassim in
Sirte.
(AFP, 9/29/11)
2011 Oct 1, Libyan fighters
completely surrounded Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte and
engaged in heavy clashes with his loyalists on the city's streets. A
path was left for civilians who still wanted to leave the coastal
city. A family of four was killed while driving out from the Gadhafi
holdout toward the revolutionaries positions. NATO planes hit a
command and control node, an infantry and anti-aircraft artillery
staging area, two armed vehicles, four armored infantry vehicles and
a tank in and around Sirte.
(AP, 10/1/11)(AFP, 10/2/11)
2011 Oct 2, In Libyan civilians
fled Kadhafi's besieged home town of Sirte as battles raged for the
fugitive strongman's bastion. The Red Cross warned of a medical
emergency. 4 fighters were killed in friendly fire.
(AFP, 10/2/11)
2011 Oct 3, Libya's
transitional leaders named a new Cabinet and said they would step
down after the country is fully secured. Revolutionary forces seized
the village of Abu Hadi south of Sirte. 2 anti-Gadhafi fighters were
killed and 28 wounded in intense battles in Sirte.
(AP, 10/3/11)(AP, 10/4/11)
2011 Oct 4, Libyan
revolutionary forces fired rockets into the western half of Sirte,
Moammar Gadhafi's hometown, even as hundreds of residents streamed
out of the city to flee the fighting.
(AP, 10/4/11)
2011 Oct 4, British company
Heritage Oil PLC said that it has acquired a controlling interest in
a Libyan company licensed to provide oil field services including
offshore and land-based drilling. Heritage said it paid $19.5
million for a 51% stake in Sahara Oil Services Holdings Ltd.
(AP, 10/4/11)
2011 Oct 7, Libyan
revolutionary fighters assaulted a convention center in the center
of Sirte that forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi turned into their main
base. At least 17 fighters were killed and 180 wounded.
(AP, 10/7/11)(AP, 10/8/11)(AFP, 10/8/11)
2011 Oct 8, In Libya Seif
al-Islam was seen distributing cash to his loyalists in Bani Walid.
(AP, 10/9/11)
2011 Oct 9, Libya's
revolutionary forces seized a convention center that had served as a
key base for fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in the fugitive
leader's hometown, as they squeezed remaining regime loyalists in
the besieged coastal city. In Bani Walid, advancing fighters drove
Gadhafi forces out of the airport.
(AP, 10/9/11)
2011 Oct 11, In Libya new
regime fighters seized the police headquarters in the center of
Moamer Kadhafi's hometown Sirte as they moved against the
strongman's remaining diehards.
(AFP, 10/11/11)
2011 Oct 12, Libya’s new regime
fighters captured Khaled Tantoosh, the Kadhafi regime's top cleric,
as he attempted to flee Sirte with his beard shaved off to disguise
his appearance. Amnesty Int’l. said revolutionary fighters were
holding over 2,500 detainees in makeshift prisons.
(AFP, 10/13/11)(SFC, 10/13/11, p.A2)
2011 Oct 13, In Libya new
regime fighters moved from house to house in Sirte, hunting for
weapons or suspected Kadhafi fighters and sometimes making off with
bags full of looted possessions and leaving trashed homes in their
wake. NTC commanders said the Kadhafi remnants were cornered within
about two square km (500 acres) of the city.
(AFP, 10/13/11)(AFP, 10/14/11)
2011 Oct 14, Libya's new regime
forces launched an intensive assault on two areas of fallen
strongman Moamer Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte, bombarding his
diehards with artillery, mortars and rockets. At least four people
were killed and 46 wounded. Pro-Kadhafi gunmen took on fighters
loyal to the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Abu Salim, a
district around 10 km (six miles) south of Tripoli city center. 2
Kadhafi loyalists and one NTC fighter were killed while another 30
people were wounded.
(AFP, 10/14/11)
2011 Oct 16, Libyan fighters
were reported looting Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, alongside
fierce battles to drive out loyalists of the fugitive leader. Two
fighters were killed and 70 wounded in fierce fighting.
(AP, 10/16/11)(AFP, 10/16/11)
2011 Oct 17, Libyan fighters
raised the new government's flag over the desert oasis of Bani Walid
and hailed an exodus of regime families from the only other redoubt
of Moamer Kadhafi's forces, his hometown Sirte. For a 2nd straight
day NATO announced no hits in its air war.
(AFP, 10/17/11)
2011 Oct 18, The Obama
administration on increased US support for Libya's new leaders as
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made an unannounced visit
to Tripoli and pledged millions of dollars in new aid. About 1,000
revolutionary troops launched a major assault on Gadhafi's hometown
of Sirte.
(AP, 10/18/11)
2011 Oct 19, Libyan
revolutionary forces fought building by building against the final
pocket of resistance in Sirte, the last major city in Libya to have
been under the control of forces loyal to the fugitive leader.
(AP, 10/19/11)
2011 Oct 20, Libya’s National
Transition Council said that its fighters found and shot dictator
Moammar Gadhafi (69). Sirte finally fell to the rebels today after
weeks of tough fighting. NATO war planes struck 11 armed
vehicles in the vicinity of Sirte. The strikes marked the
culmination of a NATO-led air war mandated by the UN to protect
civilians from Gadhafi's forces Gadhafi was shot in the head after
being captured at a sewage culvert on the outskirts of Sirte.
(AP, 10/20/11)(AFP, 10/21/11)
2011 Oct 20, Libya’s National
Transition Council said that its fighters found and shot dictator
Moammar Gadhafi (69). Sirte finally fell to the rebels today after
weeks of tough fighting. NATO war planes struck a convoy of
armed vehicles in the vicinity of Sirte. Gadhafi was in the convoy.
Gadhafi was shot in the head after being captured at a sewage
culvert on the outskirts of Sirte. The NATO strikes marked the
culmination of a NATO-led air war mandated by the UN to protect
civilians from Gadhafi's forces.
(AP, 10/20/11)(AP, 10/21/11)
2011 Oct 21, NATO announced
plans to end its 7-month mission in Libya on October 31 but will
issue a formal decision next week after consulting the UN and
Libya's interim authorities.
(AFP, 10/22/11)
2011 Oct 23, Libya’s National
Transitional Council (NTC) declared liberation in the wake of
Kadhafi's capture and death. It said the new Libya will be governed
in line with Islamic sharia law, but stressed it would remain a
"moderate" Muslim country.
(AFP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 24, Libya’s interim
leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil set a two-week target for Libya to have a
new government and said a commission of inquiry is being formed to
probe Moamer Kadhafi's killing. Human Right Watch urged the NTC to
probe the killing of 53 people whose decaying bodies were found in
Sirte, where the pro-Kadhafi camp put up its final stand.
(AFP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 25, In Libya Moammar
Gadhafi was buried in secrecy and anonymity, laid to rest in an
unmarked grave before dawn in the Libyan desert that was home to his
Bedouin tribal ancestors. A Human Rights Watch team saw trucks drive
out of Tawergha with furniture and carpets that had apparently been
looted, and that Misrata fighters who claimed to be guarding the
town did not intervene.
(AP, 10/25/11)(AP, 10/29/11)
2011 Oct 26, Libya's interim
leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil urged NATO to continue its Libya campaign
until year's end, saying loyalists of slain despot Moamer Kadhafi
still pose a threat to the country. NATO unexpectedly postponed a
definite decision to end its bombing campaign.
(AFP, 10/26/11)(SFC, 10/27/11, p.A4)
2011 Oct 26, Marcel Ceccaldi, a
French lawyer representing the family of Moamer Kadhafi said he
plans to file a war crimes complaint against NATO with the
International Criminal Court (ICC) for the alliance's alleged role
in his death.
(AFP, 10/26/11)
2011 Oct 26, Abdullah
al-Senoussi, Moammar Gadhafi's former intelligence chief, entered
Mali late at night, after making his way across Niger where he has
been hiding for several days in the country's northern desert.
Gadhafi's hunted son, Seif al-Islam, was also reported on his way to
Mali, traveling across the invisible line separating Algeria from
Niger.
(AP, 10/27/11)
2011 Oct 27, Five Arab Spring
activists won the European parliament's Sakharov prize awarded to
campaigners for freedom. They include Mohamed Bouazizi of Tunisia,
awarded posthumously, Egyptian militant Asmaa Mahfouz, Libyan
dissident Ahmed al-Zubair Ahmed al-Sanusi, Syrian lawyer Razan
Zeitouneh and Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat.
(AFP, 10/27/11)
2011 Oct 28, NATO allies
formally agreed to end the seven-month mission in Libya Oct 31.
(AFP, 10/28/11)
2011 Oct 29, In Libya
volunteers reportedly buried more than 500 bodies across Sirte since
October 23, most of them believed to be fighters. This included more
than 50 bodies of civilians were found under the rubble of a
several-storey building flattened in a NATO air strike.
(AFP, 10/29/11)
2011 Oct 30, Libya's interim PM
Mahmoud Jibril confirmed the presence of chemical weapons in Libya
and said foreign inspectors would arrive later this week to deal
with the issue. A clash took place in a Tripoli neighborhood between
fighters from the towns of Zintan and Misrata. A Zintan fighter was
killed and another, from Misrata, was wounded and taken by his
friends to Tripoli's Central Hospital.
(AP, 10/30/11)(AP, 11/1/11)
2011 Oct 31, Libya's interim
leadership chose Abdel-Rahim al-Keeb, an electronics engineer from
Tripoli, as the country's new prime minister.
(AP, 10/31/11)
2011 Oct 31, NATO’s
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen arrived in Tripoli for talks
with Libya's interim leaders before NATO operations end at midnight
today. The NATO 7-month air campaign left at least 40 civilians
dead.
(AP, 10/31/11)(SSFC, 12/18/11, p.A13)
2011 Nov 6, Niger's army
intercepted a convoy of cars traveling south from Libya toward Mali,
and a cache of arms was seized in the ensuing clash. Libyan
nationals and ethnic Tuaregs were in the convoy. One Nigerien
soldier was killed and four wounded during the clash.
(AP, 11/9/11)
2011 Nov 10, In Germany some
300 police officers searched the headquarters of Heckler & Koch
amid allegations the German arms maker bribed Mexican officials in
connection with arms deliveries between 2005 and 2010. Heckler &
Koch was also under investigation following the discovery of its
assault rifles in Libya.
(AP, 11/10/11)
2011 Nov 11, In Libya 2 people
were killed in connection to a dispute between rival militias near
Tripoli, amid rising concern about the uncontrolled ownership of
weapons.
(AP, 11/12/11)
2011 Nov 11, Niger President
Mahamadou Issoufou, during a visit to South Africa, said his
government has decided to grant Moamer Kadhafi's son Saadi asylum
for humanitarian reasons, adding that his brother Seif al-Islam is
not in the country. He also said Niger's army has clashed repeatedly
with arms traffickers from neighboring Libya.
(AFP, 11/11/11)(AP, 11/11/11)
2011 Nov 12, EU foreign policy
chief Catherine Ashton officially opened a delegation in Tripoli
before holding talks with Libya's interim leaders as the bloc moved
to cement relations.
(AFP, 11/12/11)
2011 Nov 13, In Libya rival
militias clashed on the outskirts of Tripoli for a fourth day, the
most sustained violence since the capture and killing of Moammar
Gadhafi last month. The fighting has left at least four people dead
since late last week. A local commander of fighters from Tripoli,
said gunmen from Zawiya and Warshefana were fighting for control of
a camp midway between the capital of Tripoli and Zawiya.
(AP, 11/13/11)
2011 Nov 17, Libyan militiamen,
who fought the regime of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi, marched
through Tripoli demanding a voice in the formation of a new interim
government. Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, repressed under the regime
of fallen strongman Moamer Kadhafi, opened its first public congress
inside the country for almost 25 years.
(AP, 11/18/11)(AFP, 11/18/11)
2011 Nov 18, Moammar Gadhafi's
son Seif al-Islam (39), the only wanted member of the ousted ruling
family to remain at large, was captured as he traveled with aides in
a convoy in Libya's southern desert. He was captured by
revolutionary forces from the mountain town of Zintan who had been
tracking him for days.
(AP, 11/19/11)
2011 Nov 20, Libya’s the
information minister said Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, Moammar Gadhafi's
son and one-time heir apparent, will be tried in Libya and not
handed over to the International Criminal Court even though the
country's new rulers have yet to set up a justice system.
(AP, 11/20/11)
2011 Nov 21, In Libya Abdullah
Al-Senoussi, Moammar Gadhafi's intelligence chief, was captured
alive by revolutionary fighters not far from where Gadhafi's son was
seized a day earlier.
(AP, 11/21/11)
2011 Nov 22, The International
Criminal Court's prosecutor said that Libya can put Moammar
Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent on trial at home, but that
The Hague court's judges must be involved in the case.
(AP, 11/22/11)
2011 Nov 23, Some of Libya's
clans said they would not recognize the government, a day after the
unveiling of a new cabinet revived regional and tribal rivalries
which threaten the country's stability.
(Reuters, 11/23/11)
2011 Nov 26, In Libya dozens of
women rallied in Tripoli to pressure the new government to do more
to help women raped during the country's civil war.
(AP, 11/26/11)
2011 Nov 27, Hundreds of
Libya's minority Amazigh Berbers marched to the premier's office for
the second time in three days, stepping up pressure to be
represented in the government. During Kadhafi's rule the Amazighs,
whose name means "free men," were banned from publicly speaking,
writing or printing anything in their own tongue, tamazight.
(AFP, 11/27/11)
2011 Nov 28, The UN released a
report a detailing alleged torture and ill treatment in lockups
controlled by the forces that overthrew dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
The report says that Libyan revolutionaries still hold about 7,000
people, many of them sub-Saharan Africans who in some cases are
accused or suspected of being mercenaries hired by Gadhafi.
(AP, 11/29/11)
2011 Nov 29, Aisha Kadhafi, the
daughter of the slain Libyan leader, called for the overthrow of
Libya's interim government in an audio message aired on Syrian-based
Arrai television.
(AFP, 11/30/11)
2011 Dec 1, Libya's interim
interior minister Fawzi Abdelali said security forces will integrate
50,000 fighters who battled loyalists of late dictator Moamer
Kadhafi.
(AFP, 12/1/11)
2011 Dec 2, Tunisia closed the
second main border post into Libya following attacks on Tunisians on
the Libyan side, two days after the first closure.
(AFP, 12/2/11)
2011 Dec 6, Libya's government
gave its firm support to a 2-week deadline for militias to quit
Tripoli, backing up a threat from the capital's council to lock down
the city if they fail to do so.
(AFP, 12/6/11)
2011 Dec 10, In Libya the army
chief of staff, Gen. Khalifa Hifter, was in a convoy traveling from
his home in Tripoli to the military headquarters when a group of
armed men at a fake checkpoint tried to stop them. Soldiers arrested
two gunmen. Fighters from the western mountain town of Zintan, who
control Tripoli's international airport, opened fire on two
occasions on the convoy of Gen. Khalifa Hifter. The Zintan fighters
blamed the violence on the army's failure to notify them that the
general was coming.
(AP, 12/10/11)(AP, 12/11/11)
2011 Dec 13, In Libya around
500 disgruntled protesters from Benghazi, cradle of the uprising
against Moamer Kadhafi, demonstrated for a second day against the
nation's new rulers despite assurances the former rebel bastion will
be Libya's economic capital.
(AFP, 12/13/11)
2011 Dec 15, Tunisia reopened
its Ras Jidr crossing with Libya after Tripoli took steps to prevent
the kind of incidents that led to the border's closure two weeks
ago.
(AFP, 12/16/11)
2011 Libya’s population was
about 6.5 million.
(Econ, 2/26/11, p.25)
2012 Jan 3, Libya’s National
Transitional Council said Yussef al-Mangush, a former colonel in
Kadhafi's military, has been appointed as the new chief of staff of
the Libyan army. Mangush was arrested in the oil town of Brega in
April by Kadhafi's forces and freed in late August following the
fall of Tripoli. Two former rebel factions clashed in hours of
gunbattles in central Tripoli that left five fighters dead. The
clashes were triggered by arrest of a Misrata fighter on New Year's
Eve by Tripoli fighters. He was suspected of robbery and the Misrata
fighters were trying to free him.
(AFP, 1/3/12)(AP, 1/3/12)
2012 Jan 10, Libya’s foreign
minister said Libya has received roughly $20 billion in assets that
were held overseas by Moamer Kadhafi's regime and frozen during the
conflict that ousted him. The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL)
signed a status of mission agreement with Libya, paving the way for
the world body to continue assisting the war-torn country during its
current transitional period.
(AFP, 1/10/12)
2012 Jan 15, In Libya a militia
from the town of Gharyan, approximately 80 km (50 miles) south of
Tripoli, clashed with a rival armed group from the nearby town of
Assabia. Fighting between the two militias began Jan 13 and by the
next day left 2 dead. The clash erupted after an Assabia resident
killed a local from Gharyan. Late in the day the rival fighters
settled their deadly dispute through a prisoner swap and agreed to a
ceasefire.
(AFP, 1/16/12)
2012 Jan 19, In Libya
Abdelhafiz Ghoga, the deputy head of the National Transitional
Council, was manhandled by protesters at the University of Ghar
Yunis in Benghazi. Students have been demonstrating on the campus
for weeks to protest against the perceived lack of transparency of
the administration.
(AFP, 1/19/12)
2012 Jan 19, In Libya a
Tripoli-based militia from the town of Zintan detained Omar Brebesh
(62), the country‘s ex-ambassador to France. His body appeared at a
hospital in Zintan the next day and a preliminary autopsy found the
cause of death included "multiple bodily injuries and fractured
ribs."
(AFP, 2/3/12)
2012 Jan 21, In Libya around
200 protesters frustrated with the pace of reforms stormed the
grounds of the country's transitional government headquarters in
Benghazi to demand a meeting with the nation's interim leaders.
(AP, 1/21/12)
2012 Jan 22, The head of
Libya's transitional government suspended delegates from Benghazi.
Abdul-Jalil said he appointed a council of religious leaders to
investigate corruption charges and identify people with links to the
Gadhafi regime. NTC deputy head Abdel Hafiz Ghoga resigned from his
post, as thousands of students demonstrated against him in
Benghazi's University of Ghar Yunis.
(AP, 1/22/12)(AFP, 1/22/12)
2012 Jan 23, In Libya
supporters of slain Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi reportedly seized
control of Bani Walid, his one-time bastion. At least 7 people were
killed and 25 others wounded. The fighters who rose up in Bani Walid
belong to Brigade 93, a militia created by Gadhafi loyalists who
reassembled after the fall of the regime in August. These claims
were strongly denied by Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali. The
fighting pitted the May 28 Brigade of former rebel fighters against
a group of heavily armed residents who had come to the base to seek
the release of a relative from custody.
(AFP, 1/23/12)(AP, 1/24/12)(SFC, 1/24/12,
p.A2)(AFP, 1/24/12)(AFP, 1/27/12)
2012 Jan 25, In Libya Defense
Minister Osama al-Juwali sought a solution to the clashes in Bani
Walid between locals still loyal to Gadhafi and forces of the new
regime. Juili said that Bani Walid was under government control and
that the fighting was an internal problem between two groups of
young men, one of them being the May 28 Brigade.
(AP, 1/25/12)(AFP, 1/25/12)
2012 Jan 25, At least 15 Somali
migrants were killed and 40 left missing after their boat capsized
off the coast of Libya. The boat had been carrying 55 Somalis and
the other passengers were still missing.
(AFP, 1/28/12)
2012 Jan 26, The medical aid
group Doctors Without Borders said it has suspended its work in
prisons in the Libyan city of Misrata because it said detainees are
being tortured and denied urgent medical care. 30 representatives
from clans of the powerful Werfelli tribe, which is spread across
Libya but whose stronghold is Bani Walid, came together to discuss
terms for the return of fighters of the May 28 Brigade who fled the
town during the clashes.
(AP, 1/26/12)(AFP, 1/27/12)
2012 Jan 28, Libya’s ruling
National Transitional Council adopted a new electoral law to form
its first constituent assembly in June, dropping a 10% quota set
aside for women. It now said each political party must have equal
numbers of men and women in its list of candidates for the 136
seats.
(AFP, 1/28/12)
2012 Feb 5, Libya put 41
loyalists of dead dictator Moamer Kadhafi on trial, in the first
legal proceedings launched against members of the former regime. The
trial was later adjourned to February 15, with the military
prosecutor saying the accused will have fair trials.
(AFP, 2/5/12)
2012 Feb 10, From Niger Saadi
Kadhafi, one of the sons of Libya's slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi,
said a nationwide rebellion is brewing against the country's new
rulers as he vowed to return to his homeland.
(AFP, 2/11/12)
2012 Feb 11, Libya demanded
Niger hand over Al-Saadi Gadhafi, one of Moammar Gadhafi's sons who
is under house arrest there, after he warned in a television
interview that his homeland was facing a new uprising.
(AP, 2/11/12)
2012 Feb 12, In Libya clashes
erupted between members of the Zwai and Tobu tribes in the town of
Kufra and continued into the next day. At least 17 people were
killed in the two days of fighting with another 22 wounded.
(AFP, 2/13/12)
2012 Feb 13, Libyan members of
a hundred militias announced a new unified military council.
(SFC, 2/15/12, p.A2)
2012 Feb 14, A Tunisian court
cleared Libyan former PM Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmudi (70) on a charge he
had crossed illegally into Tunisia as he fled Libya last year.
(AFP, 2/14/12)
2012 Feb 21, Libya’s leader
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil acknowledged that his government is powerless to
control militias that are refusing to lay down their arms after
ousting Moammar Khadafy.
(SFC, 2/22/12, p.A4)
2012 Feb 21, Libyan tribal
sources said fierce clashes between two tribes in the remote
southeastern desert have killed more than 100 people over the past
10 days. They said at least 113 people from the Toubu tribe and
another 23 from the Zwai tribe have been killed in the town of Kufra
since fighting erupted on February 12. Control of lucrative
smuggling routes was at the root of the conflict.
(AFP, 2/21/12)
2012 Feb 22, A Libyan military
court declared itself incompetent in the first trial of alleged
loyalists of the toppled regime of Moamer Kadhafi.
(AFP, 2/22/12)
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End of file.