France, Oct. 20 -- Kadhafi seized power in Libya in a military coup in 1969 and went on to build one of the most idiosyncratic states of the 20th century.

Funded by vast oil wealth and enforced by ruthless repression, it was guided by his Green Book - a manifesto proposing a "third way" between capitalism and communism, and officially called the Jamahiriya - or "state of the masses".

Kadhafi cast himself as a champion of Arab - and subsequently African - liberation, and backed armed groups abroad, which brought years of Western and United Nations sanctions.

His fall in 2011, following an uprising and a Western-backed military intervention, left Libya split between rival governments in the country's east and west. Many Africans blame hi...