Muammar Al-Gaddafi

Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi1 (معمر القذافي audio ; also known simply as Colonel Gaddafi; born 7 June 1942) is the de facto leader of Libya since a coup in 1969. Although Gaddafi has held no public office or title since 1979, he is accorded the honorifics "Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" or "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution" in government statements and the official press. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on June 8, 2009 he became the third longest serving of all current heads of state.In February 2009, upon being elected chairman of the 53-nation African Union in Ethiopia, Gaddafi told the assembled African leaders: "I shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries work to achieve the United States of Africa." more