Libya Background And U S Relations

Libyan-U.S. rapprochement has unfolded gradually since 2003, when the Libyan gov¿t. accepted responsibility for the actions of its personnel in regard to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and announced its decision to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction and long-range missile programs. Full diplomatic relations were restored on May 31, 2006 when the U.S. upgraded its Liaison Office in Tripoli to an Embassy. This report provides background information on Libya and U.S.-Libyan relations; profiles Libyan leader Muammar al Qadhafi; discusses Libya¿s political and economic reform efforts; and reviews current issues of potential congressional interest. Illustrations.

Libyan-U.S. rapprochement has unfolded gradually since 2003, when the Libyan government accepted responsibility for the actions of its personnel in regard to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and announced its decision to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction and long-range missile programs. In response, U.S. sanctions were gradually removed, and, on May 15, 2006, the Bush Administration announced its intention to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya and to rescind Libya's listing as a state sponsor of terrorism. Full diplomatic relations were restored on May 31, 2006 when the United States upgraded its Liaison Office in Tripoli to an Embassy. Libya was removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and states not fully cooperating with U.S. counterterrorism efforts in June 2006. Until recently, U.S.-Libyan re-engagement was hindered by lingering disagreements over outstanding legal claims related to U.S. citizens killed or injured in past Libyan-sponsored or supported terrorist attacks. Under the terms of a Claims Settlement Agreement reached between the Libyan and U.S. governments in August 2008, funds now have been made available to settle specific outstanding claims. The 111th Congress and the Administration of President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a U.S.-Libya relationship that is relatively free of longstanding constraints but which also remains relatively undefined. This report provides background information on Libya and U.S.-Libyan relations; profiles Libyan leader Muammar al Qadhafi; discusses Libya's political and economic reform efforts; and reviews current issues of potential congressional interest. It will be updated to reflect major developments.

The relationship between the United States and Libya has been strained and hostile for much of the last 35 years, but has recently shown signs of improvement. Following the Libyan government's December 2003 decision to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction and long range missile programs, a number of bilateral diplomatic exchanges have taken place, and the termination of U.S. economic sanctions on Libya has paved the way for a renewal of investment by U.S. oil, gas, and energy service firms in Libya's under-capitalized energy sector. Several visits to Libya by Bush Administration officials and Members of Congress in 2004 and 2005 have raised expectations of a formal reestablishment of normal relations between the U.S. and Libya in the near future, including the removal of the last remaining sanctions associated with Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Bilateral intelligence and counter-terrorism cooperation has contributed to a gradual U.S.-Libyan re-engagement on security matters since late 2001. Continuing U.S. concerns about Libya's relationship with some Palestinian terrorist groups and an alleged Libyan-sponsored assassination plot targeting Saudi monarch King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud thus far have delayed the recision of Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. The designation remains the most significant obstacle to the full resumption of bilateral relations. Other issues of interest to the United States include Libyan political and economic reform efforts, steps to address long standing human rights concerns, and Libyan engagement with Arab and African states. This report provides background information on Libyan history and U.S.-Libyan relations; profiles Libyan leader Muammar Al Qadhafi; discusses current political and economic reform efforts; and reviews current issues of potential congressional interest. It will be updated periodically to reflect important developments. For information about Libya see CRS Report RL32604, Libya: Legislative Basis for U.S. Economic Sanctions, by Dianne E. Rennack, and CRS Report RS21823, Disarming Libya: Weapons of Mass Destruction, by Sharon A. Squassoni and Andrew Feickert.

The United Nations Security Council passed three resolutions that placed sanctions on Libya until Libya surrendered for trial two men suspected of bombing Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 and French flight UTA 772 in 1989. Libya surrendered the two men on April 5, 1999, and the UN suspended the sanctions the same day. US sanctions against Libya remain in place. Libyan-US relations have been plagued by a series of incidents between US and Libyan armed forces, Libyan policies of supporting terrorism, Libya's search for chemical and nuclear weapons, and Libyan meddling in other nations' internal affairs. Al-Quadhafi has proposed bilateral and multilateral unions with his neighbours and several other countries, and envisions himself as carrying on for Egypt's Nasir in unifying the Arab, Islamic and African worlds. Libyan leader Muammar al-Quadhafi implemented a form of participatory democracy in Libya, where villages elect Peoples' Congresses, which in turn elect Peoples' Congresses for geographic regions and the central government. In addition, there are Peoples' Congresses representing industries or institutions, such as education, medicine or broadcasting. Despite the presence and apparent activity of the Peoples' Congresses, it is clear that members of the Revolutionary Command Council, created after the 1969 coup, and their cohorts continue to exercise great influence, perhaps dictatorial authority over Libya. Libya enjoys a favourable balance of trade and payments and runs a small budget deficit. Al-Quadhafi has used his military in a 1977 border dispute with Egypt; in 1972 and 1978 he attempts to buttress Idi Amin in Uganda, in several attempts to influence events in Chad, and aid in a token deployment in Lebanon.

We no longer inhabit a world governed by international coordination, a unified NATO bloc, or an American hegemon. Traditionally, the decline of one empire leads to a restoration in the balance of power, via a struggle among rival systems of order. Yet this dynamic is surprisingly absent today; instead, the superpowers have all, at times, sought to promote what Jason Pack terms the 'Enduring Disorder'. He contends that Libya's ongoing conflict-more so than the civil wars in Yemen, Syria, Venezuela or Ukraine-constitutes the ideal microcosm in which to identify the salient features of this new era of geopolitics. The country's post-Qadhafi trajectory has been molded by the stark absence of coherent international diplomacy; while Libya's incremental implosion has precipitated cross-border contagion, further corroding global institutions and international partnership. Pack draws on over two decades of research in and on Libya and Syria to highlight the Kafkaesque aspects of today's global affairs. He shows how even the threats posed by the Arab Spring, and the Benghazi assassination of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, couldn't occasion a unified Western response. Rather, they have further undercut global collaboration, demonstrating the self-reinforcing nature of the progressively collapsing world order.