Tuesday, August 31, 1999 Published at 22:10 GMT 23:10 UK
Colonel Gaddafi: A maverick veteran
A major player in the 1970s - flanked by the Egyptian and Syrian presidents
As Colonel Gaddafi celebrates three decades in power, former BBC Middle East correspondent Gerald Butt looks at the life of the man who once prided himself on being a pan-Arabist but who now feels closer to Africa.
Thirty years ago, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi led a military coup that toppled King Idris and ended the monarchy in Libya. But since then, he has ruled his country in the style of the most eccentric of absolute monarchs imaginable.
It has the stamp of its leader imprinted on every aspect of its life - even its name.
Aside from monarchies and sheikhdoms, every other Arab state is happy to call itself a republic - in Arabic, 'jumhuriya.'
Colonel Gaddafi's political and social theories are set out in rambling fashion in three volumes of his Green Book, completed in the late 1970s.
Nearly four years after coming to power he launched what he called a cultural revolution.
As part of this process, corrupt officials were punished and politically unsound books burned.
As popular committees were formed, the Revolutionary Command Council was scrapped and effective authority taken from governors, ministers and senior officials.
But despite the cosmetic changes, ultimate power to push through revolutionary changes rested in the hands of Colonel Gaddafi alone.
A simple life
Even though Libya enjoys a vast oil income, Colonel Gaddafi himself purports to enjoy a simple lifestyle.
This, he says, is because of his affinity with the desert region where he was born, in 1942, to a bedouin family.
Gaddafi grew up in an atmosphere of rebellion.
The young Gaddafi was strongly influenced in his formative years by the pan-Arab nationalism espoused by the charismatic Egyptian leader, President Gemal Abdel-Nasser.
During the Suez crisis of 1956, Gaddafi, aged 14, took part in anti-Israeli demonstrations. Later, at military college, he began forming plans for toppling the monarchy.
On 1 September 1969 Colonel Gaddafi personally led an attack on the Benghazi radio station that signalled its start.
Under the slogan, "socialism, unity and freedom", a new chapter in Libya's history began.
In opposing what he regards as the pernicious influence of the West on the Arab world and in pursuit of his desire to destroy Israel, Colonel Gaddafi has, at times, given financial help to a broad range of Palestinian and other terrorist groups around the globe, including the IRA.
Alleged Libyan involvement in terror attacks in Europe in 1986 led to US military strikes against Tripoli.
From Arabist to African
All the while, the Libyan leader was preaching the need for Arab unity.
After the death of President Nasser in 1970, Colonel Gaddafi had assumed that it was his natural role to step into the shoes of the former undisputed leader of the Arabs.
Nearly three decades later, the bitterness he feels at being rebuffed time and again in his efforts at promoting unity has boiled over into a public rejection of the Arab world as a whole.
His mission now: To unite the states of Africa.
From the perspective of other Arab leaders, Colonel Gaddafi is too quixotic and unpredictable to be taken seriously.
As a result, they were not prepared to translate the sympathy they felt for Libya, as sanctions were imposed after the Lockerbie bombing, into action to help Colonel Gaddafi.
They believe that his meddling with terrorist groups and such acts as the murder of British police officer Yvonne Fletcher by staff firing from inside the Libyan People's Bureau in London in 1984 have made Libya a country that is best kept at arm's distance.
Among the Arab people, the judgment is less harsh.
Colonel Gaddafi has won some respect for having the courage to speak his mind without fear.
He has struck a common chord, for example, in recently denouncing the deals that a number of Arab leaders have struck with Israel as a shameful sell-out.
But at the same time Arabs are well aware that the views of this maverick veteran are as likely to have as much impact on real life as his former dream of regional unity.