page_title: Land mines in North Africa
section_title: Libya
hierarchical_section_title: Land mines in North Africa / Libya
caption_attribution_description: English: Granate near Bir Hacheim in the year 1990
context_section_description: The White Book, issued by the Libyan government in 1981, shows that for every year from 1939 (before the war) to 1975, Libyans were killed by the explosion of left-over military munitions (including mines), except for the years 1969-70. 1945 had the deadliest record of 130 people killed. Most mine fields are located in the coastal area, the most populated zone of the country.
  Libya also has a bad heritage of land mines from the Libyan-Egyptian war in 1977. During the Libyan civil war in 2011, Muammar al Qadafi's regime laid land mines to check the advance of the rebel forces.
  In the 1990s about one dozen explosives removal teams worked in the former battle fields in Libya to defuse land mines and duds. Since the European countries did not feel responsible for the removal of these explosives, the Libyan government had to pay for this dangerous work.
caption: Defused dud near Bir Hakeim, Libya
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