The Green Book
Muammar Gaddafi is the Arab world's longest-serving leader. Col Gaddafi came to power in a bloodless coup in 1969. In the late 1970s Col Gaddafi set up the "Great Jamahiriya", or the state of the masses. The system is based around 'people's committees' and is free of partisan politics. Muammar Gaddafi was born in the desert near Sirte in 1942. He married twice and has eight children.