1. The Online Trade of Light Weapons in Libya
- Publication Date:
- 04-2016
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Small Arms Survey
- Abstract:
- While it was in power the Qaddafi regime tightly regulated the Libyan domestic arms trade, and local black market sales were virtually unheard of. Supplies were constrained as well—international sanctions prohibited the legal importation of arms into Libya from 1992 to 2003.1 Even when sanctions were lifted in September 2003 and international arms exports began to flow again (supplementing the Qaddafi regime’s already massive government arsenal), the domestic arms trade was stagnant (Jenzen-Jones and McCollum, forthcoming). The Libyan revolution deposed the Qaddafi regime in 2011 and with it brought to an end the Libyan state’s regulation of the arms trade. Military stockpiles were raided, and small arms and light weapons made their way into the hands of non-state armed groups and private sellers.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, International Security, Military Strategy, Non State Actors, Sanctions, Military Affairs, and Weapons
- Political Geography:
- Libya