Gaddafi's Photos 1969 - 2011, 42 Years In Power Until His Death

Gaddafi, born in 1942, celebrated on 01 September 2010, 41 years in power as the Arab world's longest-serving, but most enigmatic head of state. He formed in 1963 the Free Officers Movement, a group of revolutionary army officers, which overthrew 01 September 1969 King Idris of Libya and proclaimed Libya, in the name of 'freedom, socialism and unity,' Socialist People's Jamahiriya.

In 1969

Post 1969 picture of Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ((AFP/Getty Images)

 Post 1969 picture of Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (L) shaking hands in Tripoli with the President of Mauritania (1961-78), Mokhtar Ould Daddah (AFP/Getty Images)

Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (L) and Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser (R, 1918-70) arrive together in December 1969 in Rabat prior the Arab Summit Conference (AFP/Getty Images).

In 1972

President of Uganda Idi Amin Dada (2nd-L) poses with some of the Organization of African Unity (OUA, from left) Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Lybian leader Muammar Kadhafi in June 1972 in Kampala during an OUA summit. Idi Amin's reign of terror lasted from 1971 when he seized power from Milton Obote, to 13 April 1979, when Tanzanian troops and exiled Ugandans stormed Kampala and removed him from power (AFP/Getty Images).

In 1973

 Picture dated July 1973 of Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (L) joking in Tripoli with a group of British hippies(AFP/Getty Images).

In 1975

Taken 04 August 1975 in Kampala of Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi during the summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (L) waves to the crowd in June 1975 in Tripoli followed Commandant Abdussaman Jalloud (R), the number two of the Libyan regime (AFP/Getty Images).

Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (C) riding a horse in November 1975 in Tripoli (AFP/Getty Images).

In 1976

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (C), leader of the Libyan Jamahiriya, and President of the USSR Leonid Ilyich Brejnev (1906-1982), General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party (3rd-L) smile while members of delegations of both countries sign agreements. Brezhnev and Gaddafi are surrounded by (from left) Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko, Soviet Foreign minister, Nikolay Viktorivich Podgorny, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and Aleksey Nikolayevich Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers on December, 1976 in Moscow, Russia (AFP/Getty Images).

In 1985

  Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (L) and his wife Suffiya (R) wave to the crowd 03 December 1985 in Dakar, followed by President of Senegal Abdou Diouf (2nd row-R) upon their arrival for three-day official visit to Senegal (AFP/Getty Images).

Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (C) reviews troops 03 December 1985 in Dakar upon his arrival for three-day official visit to Senegal. (AFP/Getty Images) .

In 1986

Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi addresses journalists 02 February 1986 in Tripoli during a meeting of 'The High Command of The Revolutionary Forces of The Arab Nation'(AFP/Getty Images).

In 1988

 Tunisian President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali (R) and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi listen to the national anthems 04 February 1988 at Tunis airport upon Kadhafi arrival for an official visit in Tunisia, the first for more than ten years (AFP/Getty Images).

In 1989

Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi prays 21 July 1989 in Bamako during six-African-nation summit to resolve a territorial dispute between Libya and Chad (AFP/Getty Images) .

In 1990

South African National Congress (ANC) President Nelson Mandela (l) and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi hug each other 18 May 1990 upon Mandela arrival to Tripoli (AFP/Getty Images).

In 1994

  Libyan Head of State Colonel Muammar Gaddafi wipes his face during a military parade 01 September 1994 in Tripoli for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of his arrival in power (AFP/Getty Images).

In 1996

Yasser Arafat (L), Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority, greets Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi on June 22, 1996 during the 19th Arab Summit in Cairo, Egypt. The two Arab leaders met for the first time since the Gulf war in 1991 (AFP/Getty Images) .

In 1999

Egyptians greet Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, during his visit to the city of Fayum, some 100 km south of Cairo, 08 March 1999. Khadafi arrived in Egypt 05 March 1999 for a visit that could last a week, in a bid to finalize a deal on a handover by Tripoli of two suspects in the Lockerbie airliner bombing. (AFP/Getty Images).

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi salutes his troops participating 07 September 1999 in a military parade in Tripoli to mark the 30th anniversary of the Libyan Revolution that brought Gaddafi to power(AFP/Getty Images) .

In 2001

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi flashes the V-sign March 28, 2001 at the end of the two-day Arab Summit in Amman, Jordan. The first ordinary Arab summit since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 closed having failed to win Iraq's approval on a resolution to improve its ties with Kuwait and the international community (Newsmakers).

In 2002

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi performs a prayer inside Gurdabiya Dam after the opening ceremony of the dam which is a phase of Libya's 'Great Man-Made River' water project some 30 kms east of the city of Syrte 07 March 2002 (AFP/Getty Images) .

In 2004

French President Jacques Chirac (L) stands with Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi (R) on November 24, 2004 in Tripoli, Lybia. Chirac was in Libya for a two day official visit marking the first visit by a French head of state since Libya won independence from Italy in 1951 (Getty Images).

In 2007

Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) meets with Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar Al Gaddafi on May 29, 2007 in Sirte, Libya. Blair was on a five day visit to meet with African leaders as he prepared to stand down as Britain's Prime Minister on June 27, 2007 (Getty Images)

In 2008

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) stands next to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi during the signing of agreements between the two countries April 17, 2008 in Tripoli, Libya. Putin was in Libya for a two-day official visit to rebuild Russian-Libyan relations (Getty Images).

In 2009

Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi stands during his meeting with Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano (not pictured) at Rome's Quirinale presidential palace on June 10, 2009 during Gaddafi's first visit to Italy (AFP/Getty Images) .

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (L) shakes hands with US president Barack Obama during the G8 summit on July 9, 2009 in L'Aquila, Italy. The talks are being held close to the site of a devastating earthquake in April of this year and leaders are expected to discuss climate change, global security and the global recession (Getty Images).

 In this handout image supplied by the Palestinan Press Office (PPO), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) greets Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on August 31, 2009 in Tripoli, Libya (Getty Images).

In 2010

In this handout image supplied by the Palestinian Press Office (PPO), Foreign Leaders pose for a portrait including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah II, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Prince Felipe of Spain on the first day of the Arab Summit in Sirte on March 27, 2010 in Libya (Getty Images).

In 22-02-2011

A Libyan girl holds a poster during a protest against Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi near the Libyan-Arabic school and Consulate in Athens on February 22, 2011. A defiant Muammar Gaddafi said he would remain in Libya as head of its revolution, and that he had no official position from which to resign. (AFP/Getty Images) .

A picture of a screen taken from the television on February 22, 2011 shows Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi gesturing while delivering a nationwide address in Tripoli. Gaddafi says he will stay in Libya as head of revolution as world powers mobilised to try to halt the bloody showdprotesters own between and his security forces suspected of 'crimes against humanity' to keep him in power. (AFP/Getty Images).

In 20-10-2011

This day is the end of a great man life, Muammar Gaddafi has been killed after National Transitional Council fighters overran loyalist defences in Sirte, the toppled Libyan leader's hometown and final stronghold. 

"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed," Mahmoud Jibril, the de facto Libyan prime minister, told reporters on Thursday in Tripoli, the capital. 

Crowds took to the streets of Tripoli and Benghazi, the eastern city that spearheaded the uprising against Gaddafi's 42-year rule in February, to celebrate the news, with some firing guns and waving Libya's new flag.

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