Independent Baptist Friends International

As a result of the 2011 Libyan uprising, there are currently two entities claiming to be the official government of Libya. The regime of Muammar Gaddafi, which refers to the country as the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, controls Tripoli and most of the western half of the country. The National Transitional Council of the Libyan Republic, led by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, is based in Benghazi and controls most of the eastern half of the country. France and Portugal have officially recognized the Council as the sole "legitimate representative" of Libya.

With an area of almost 679,362 square miles, 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 6.5 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica. Libya has the highest HDI in Africa and the fourth highest GDP (PPP) per capita in Africa as of 2009, behind Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. These are largely due to its large petroleum reserves and low population. Libya is one of the world's ten richest oil-producing countries.

Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya
• http://www.flickr.com/places/info/23424882/
• http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=libyan+arab+jamahiriya