Libya is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. The country consists of three historical regions, Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometers (700,000 sq. mi), Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa, and is the 16th largest country in the world and has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world.
The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in western Libya and contains over one million of Libya’s six million people. The other large city is Benghazi, which is located in eastern Libya
Since the collapse of the Gathafi regime, Libya has become a scene of military conflicts in which the civilian population has suffered the most. Among the major problems that those conflicts resulted in are the presence of landmines/ERW affecting all Libyan areas
Libya Not a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty or the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The extent of contamination by landmines, cluster munition remnants, IEDs and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) is not known. In 2016, non-technical survey (NTS) of recent confrontation areas was conducted by national clearance operators, with the support of international operators. A total of 479km2 of suspected hazardous area (SHA) and 235km2 of confirmed hazardous area (CHA) was identified in 2016. Clearance was reportedly conducted by army engineers, police, the National Safety Authority (NSA) and volunteers, but not in accordance with international standards and without providing reports to the Libyan Mine Action Center (LibMAC).
The Libyan Mine Action Center (LibMAC) was mandated by the Minister of Defense to coordinate mine action in December 2011. Its headquarters are in Tripoli, in the west. In 2015 and 2016, it did not have an office in east Libya, however, it coordinated with institutions in Benghazi, and in April 2016, a regional operations manager was appointed for the east.