ZAWIYAT AL-BAYDA'

also spelled Zawiyat el-Beda, also called Baida town, northeastern Libya. It is a new town lying on a high ridge 20 miles (32 km) from the Mediterranean Sea. Built in the late 1950s on the site of the tomb of Rawayfi ibn Thabit (a Companion of the Prophet Muhammad), it was planned as the future national capital. Although Zawiyat al-Bayda' contains a parliament building, ministerial offices, a branch campus of Gar Younis University, and a centre for Islamic studies, Tripoli remains Libya's capital. The town is served by a modern airfield and has highway links to Banghazi, about 110 miles (170 km) west-southwest. The ruined ancient Greek city of Cyrene is nearby. Pop. (1984) 67,120.