Portal:Africa/Featured article/22

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Libya (Arabic: ليبيا ‎ Lībiyā), officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, is a country in North Africa. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Libya lies between Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), 90% of which is desert, Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa by area and the 17th largest in the world. The capital, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 5.7 million people.

Libya has one of the highest GDPs per person in Africa, largely because of its large petroleum reserves. The country is led by Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, whose foreign policy has often brought him into conflict with the West and governments of other African countries. However, Libya publicly gave up any nuclear aspirations in the 2000s, and Libya's foreign relations today are less contentious. (Read more...)