7 Facts About Muammar Gaddafi

1. In October 2010, Muammar Gaddafi apologized to African leaders for the historical enslavement of Africans by the Arab slave trade.

2. In 2001, Muammar Gaddafi condemned the September 11 attacks on the US by al-Qaeda, expressing sympathy with the victims and calling for Libyan involvement in the War on Terror against militant Islamism.

3. In turn, Muammar Gaddafi played up his commercial relationship with the Soviets, visiting Moscow again in April 1981 and 1985, and in 1978 threatening to join the Warsaw Pact.

4. In December 1978, Muammar Gaddafi stepped down as Secretary-General of the GPC, announcing his new focus on revolutionary rather than governmental activities; this was part of his new emphasis on separating the apparatus of the revolution from the government.

5. In June 1973, Muammar Gaddafi created a political ideology as a basis for the Popular Revolution: Third International Theory.

6. On 16 April 1973, Muammar Gaddafi proclaimed the start of a "Popular Revolution" in a speech at Zuwarah.

7. In 1971, Muammar Gaddafi sponsored the creation of a Libyan General Women's Federation.