Libya, officially the State of Libya is a country in North Africa.
During the Second World War, Libya was an area of warfare in the North African Campaign. Libya became independent as a kingdom in 1951. A military coup in 1969 overthrew King Idris I. The "bloodless"[1] coup leader Muammar Gaddafi ruled the country from 1969 and the Libyan Cultural Revolution in 1973 until he was overthrown and killed in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. Following this overthrow, two authorities initially claimed to govern Libya: the House of Representatives in Tobruk and the 2014 General National Congress (GNC) in Tripoli which considered itself the continuation of the General National Congress, elected in 2012.[2][3] After UN-led peace talks between the Tobruk and Tripoli governments,[4] a unified interim UN-backed Government of National Accord was established in 2015[5] and the GNC disbanded to support it.[6] A second civil war began in 2014, with parts of Libya split between the Tobruk and Tripoli-based governments as well as various tribal and Islamist militias.[7] However, the two main warring sides signed a permanent ceasefire on 23 October 2020.
Libya has upcoming elections in 2011.[8]
Libya is a member of the United Nations (since 1955), the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab League, OIC and OPEC. The country's official religion is Islam, with 96.6% of the Libyan population being Sunni Muslims.