| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
In mid-February 2011, after popular revolts had overturned governments in Tunisia and Egypt, the so-called 'Arab Spring' reached the coasts of Libya. Protests against the decades-long rule of Colonel Muammar Gadhafi broke out in several Libyan cities and quickly gathered momentum, despite the efforts of the country's security forces to contain them. On 27 February, the leadership of the anti-Gadhafi movement, based in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, formed an interim National Transitional Council (NTC), which immediately declared itself the sole representative of the Libyan people. But although the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt were quick and relatively bloodless, in Libya, the confrontation between Gadhafi's regime and the insurgents rapidly turned into an armed conflict.
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