Is Libya in Danger of Splitting Apart?

March 06, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

Tribal leaders and militia commanders in oil-rich eastern Libya have declared their intention to seek semi-autonomy, raising fears that the country might disintegrate following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), the interim central government based in the capital Tripoli, has repeatedly voiced its opposition to the creation of a partly autonomous eastern region, warning it could eventually lead to the break-up of the North African nation. Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston reports from Tripoli.

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Benghazi

Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, the capital of the Cyrenaica region, and the former provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. The wider metropolitan area is also a district of Libya. The port city is located on the Mediterranean Sea. During the Ki... Explore this topic

Libya

Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, 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 mill... Explore this topic

Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya. Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca. During the Islamic period, the area came to be known as Barqa, af... Explore this topic

National Transitional Council

The National Transitional Council of Libya, sometimes known as the Libyan Transitional National Council, the Interim National Council, or the Libyan National Council, is the de facto parliament of Libya, established by anti-Gaddafi forces during the Libyan civil war, which pit... Explore this topic

Oil reserves in Libya

Oil reserve in Libya are the largest in Africa and the Fifth largest in the world with 76.4 billion barrels as of 2010. Oil production was 3.1 million barrels per day as of 2010, giving Libya 77 years of reserves at current production rates if no new reserves were to be found.... Explore this topic

Referendum

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal, usually a piece of legislation which has been passed into law by the local legislative body and was signed by the pertinent executive official. This may resul... Explore this topic

Tripoli

Tripoli is the capital city and the largest city of Libya. As of 2011, the Tripoli metropolitan area had a population of 2.2 million people. The city is located in the northwestern part of Libya on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterran... Explore this topic

2011 Libyan Uprising

The Libyan civil war, also referred to as the Libyan revolution was a 2011 armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginnin... Explore this topic

Libyan rebel forces

The anti-Gaddafi forces were Libyan groups that opposed and militarily defeated the government of Muammar Gaddafi, killing him in the process. These opposition forces included organised and armed militia groups, participants in the Libyan civil war, Libyan diplomats who switch... Explore this topic

Federalism

Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing... Explore this topic

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Benghazi

Libya

Cyrenaica

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