General information
Type of Incompatibility: Not applicable
Date of first battle related death: 1989-09-19
Date of conflict reached 25 battle releated deaths: 1989-09-19
Comment on conflict reached 25 battle releated deaths: The Government of Libya first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1989, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 19 September that year following the bombing of the UTA 772 airplane.
Annual information
This section contains annual information systematically collected by the UCDP.
1989
Primary Parties: Government of Libya - Civilians
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 170 |
| Best | 170 |
| Low | 170 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1991
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1996
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1997
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1998
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2000
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2006
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2007
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2011
Primary Parties: Government of Libya - Civilians
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 355 |
| Best | 325 |
| Low | 225 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2015
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2017
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2018
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2019
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 1 |
| Best | 1 |
| Low | 1 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2025
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: One-sided
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 2 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
Conflict Archive
This section contains annual information no longer systematically collected by the UCDP.
1989 Conflict Archive
Comment on Yearly Battle Related Deaths: Since Libya rejects responsibility for the incident, the low estimate is coded as 0.
Terminated: NO
1991 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1996 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1997 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1998 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2000 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2006 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2007 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2011 Conflict Archive
Comment on Activity: The activity in 2011 was made up of the violent repression of demonstrators during the initial phase of the Libyan uprising.
Comment on Yearly Battle Related Deaths: The situation in Libya after the instigation of demonstrations and prior to the intervention of NATO and the coalition of supporting states was chaotic and the reporting testified to immense death tolls and massive civilian casualties. This extreme level of civilian casualties, and the fear that the situation would deteriorate even further, were the factors that led the UN to invoke its responsibility to protect. The reported numbers in the one-sided category of the UCDP data might however seem low, or even erroneous, at first glance. This is explained by the strict definitions and criterion that needs to be fulfilled in order for UCDP to classify violence as one-sided. When the demonstrations were instigated in Libya they were peaceful, the repression from the Gaddafi regime was however harsh. For any violence to be categorised as one-sided by UCDP the violence must be directed towards unarmed civilians. The issue in Libya, as well as in the other countries affected by the Arab Spring, made it difficult to properly asses the context in which the reported deaths had occurred. As media and NGO’s often report deaths that occur in connection to demonstrations as clashes it is impossible to be certain that the victims were in fact peaceful and unarmed, as UCDP uses a strict definition of unarmed where stone throwing or using of sticks as offensive instruments disqualifies any actor from being unarmed.
In the case of Libya the civilian suffering was immense; the reports from Tripoli, Misrata and Benghazi were appalling and prompted a decisive intervention by the international community. As UN resolution 1973 was passed it was aimed to ease the suffering of the Libyan civilians who were targeted by Gaddafi and his loyalist forces. After reading news and NGO reports covering the situation in Libya, after the instigation of demonstrations and prior to the formation of the NTC, a number of events have been identified as being truly one-sided in nature. This figure, which is conservative compared to other estimates, is not to be seen as the total number of civilian casualties in the Libyan conflict, but rather the number of civilian casualties that were killed in a manner that enables inclusion in the one-sided data of UCDP violence. As coding and the subsequent categorisation is based on intent the civilian casualties that ensued after the instigation of the civil war that was fought between NTC, with the support of NATO, and Gaddafi are coded as civilian casualties in the state-based category of violence.
Terminated: NO
2015 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2017 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2018 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2019 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2025 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
