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Libya: United States
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Under the constitution of October 1951, the federal monarchy of Libya was headed by King Idris as chief of state, with succession to his designated heirs. Substantial political power resided with the king. The executive arm of the government consisted of a prime minister and Council of Ministers designated by the king but ... responsible to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The Senate, or upper house, consisted of eight representatives from each of the three provinces. Half of the senators were nominated by the king, who also had the right to veto legislation and to dissolve the lower house. Local autonomy in the provinces was exercised through provincial governments and legislatures.
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Accused of complicity in the December 1988 terrorist bombing of a transatlantic flight, Pan Am 103, Libya was subjected to United Nations (UN)-sponsored economic sanctions in 1991 for failing to extradite the two men indicted for the action. Alleged Libyan involvement in the terrorist bombing of UTA flight 772 over Niger in September 1989 further complicated Libyan external relations in this period. Libya remained under the yoke of UN-sponsored sanctions until 1998, when it accepted a proposal to try the suspects in the Pan Am 103 bombing in the Netherlands under Scottish law. Successful in thwarting opposition on several fronts in the second half of the 1990s, Qaddafi enjoyed a strengthened domestic position at the time, enabling him to remand the two suspects with minimal concern for domestic repercussions.
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Libya did make efforts in the 1970s and 1980s to buy a reactor larger than the one at Tajura. In 1976, negotiations were held between France and Libya for the purchase of a 600 MW reactor. A preliminary agreement was reached, but strong objection by the international community led France to cancel the project.[24] In the 1970s and 1980s, Libya discussed the construction of a nuclear power plant with the Soviet Union. At one point, the Belgian firm Belgonucleaire was in discussions to provide engineering support and equipment for this proposed project, but in 1984, U.S. pressure led the firm to refuse the contract.[25] Discussions with the Soviet Union about power reactor projects continued, but never produced a final agreement. By the late 1980s, Libya's nuclear program began to be hampered by economic sanctions prompted by Quadhdhafi's support of terrorism. In 1986, for example, the United States imposed economic sanctions on Libya, which were later expanded in 1992 and 1996.[26]
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Instead, Libya pursued closer bilateral ties, particularly with North African neighbors Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco. It has ... sought to develop its relations with Sub-Saharan Africa, leading to Libyan involvement in several internal African disputes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Central African Republic, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Libya has also sought to expand its influence in Africa through financial assistance, ranging from aid donations to impoverished neighbors such as Niger to oil subsidies to Zimbabwe, and through participation in the African Union. Qadhafi has proposed a borderless "United States of Africa" to transform the continent into a single nation-state ruled by a single government. This plan has been greeted with skepticism. Libya has played a helpful role in facilitating the provision of humanitarian assistance to Darfur refugees in Chad.
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Thursday, 19 April, 2007: Libya Today reported that US president George Bush called for the freedom of the five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya in a letter to Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi. US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte will hand Qadhafi the letter. Negroponte arrived to Libya on the night of April 17. Bush said that the US welcomed renewed diplomatic relations between the country and Libya. To achieve the goal... Libya had to find fast and efficient solution to the case of the nurses and the Palestinian medic sentenced on charges of intentional HIV infection. Tripoli also had to provide the full financial compensation to the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing, Bush said in the letter.
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Beginning in the late 1990s Libya embarked on a series of moves designed to end its estrangement from Western nations. In Apr., 1999, Libya handed over the suspects in the Lockerbie crash to the United Nations; they were to be tried in the Netherlands under Scottish law. The UN sanctions were suspended, but those imposed by the United States remained in place. In Dec., 1999, Qaddafi pledged not to aid or protect terrorists. Libya agreed in 2003 to a $2.7 billion settlement with the families of the victims. and that and a revised settlement for viction of the UTA bombing led the UN Security Council to lift the sanctions imposed more than a decade earlier.
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