LIBYA:Muammar Gadafy was born in 1942 in the Sirte coastal area of Libya to nomadic parents. In 1969 he and other officers staged a bloodless coup while King Idris was in Turkey.
The monarchy was abolished and Gadafy drew up his "third universal theory", a middle way between communism and capitalism.In 1977 he changed the country's name to the Great Socialist Popular Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah (State of the Masses).
UN sanctions, imposed in 1992 to put pressure on Tripoli to hand over two Libyan suspects for trial for the 1988 Lockerbie aircraft bombing over Scotland which killed 270 people, crippled oil-rich Libya's economy.
In 1998 Gadafy agreed to surrender the two Libyan suspects, aiming to free his country from sanctions.
He improved his international standing in 2003 when Libya accepted civil responsibility for Lockerbie. Months later Tripoli announced it would abandon its weapons of mass destruction programmes.
Last year Gadafy made a series of speeches scolding his nation for over-reliance on petroleum, foreigners and imports and telling them to start making things people need.
- (Reuters)