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A Fragmented Society: The Internal Dynamics of Libya’s Conflict

From

19
3:00 pm October 2020

To

19
5:00 pm October 2020

Live broadcast

While most discussions about the Libyan crisis revolve around geopolitics and international interference, internal divisions within Libya’s civil society and political institutions have also played a fundamental role in destabilizing the country since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2012. Governance in Libya is fragmented with very few truly national actors. It also continues to lack political institutions that are seen by all Libyans as legitimate. The ongoing conflict consists of many contending local and tribal players, including spoilers who have demonstrated opposition to either peace or reconciliation except on the basis of total victory by their group.

What are the major obstacles to stabilization? How can Libya approach the establishment of political institutions? In what ways can the international community support a Libyan-led peace process? The Policy Center for the New South, the Middle East Institute and the Regional Program Political Dialogue South Mediterranean of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation are pleased to jointly host a group of experts to discuss these questions and more in a closed roundtable format.

The roundtable will be broadcast live here.

Speakers
Len Ishmael
Senior Fellow
Ambassador, Dr. Len Ishmael is a Senior Fellow of the Policy Center for the New South and a Senior Fellow and Distinguished Visiting Scholar of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. She is the Global Affairs Advisor of the Brussels Diplomatic Academy and visiting Professor of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the Mohammed 6 University, Morocco. Dr. Ishmael is a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on COVID-19’s Regional Task Force for Latin America. She is the former Ambassador of the Eastern Caribbean States to the Kingdom of Belgium and European Union, and past President of the 79-member African, Caribbean & Pacific (ACP) Committee of Ambassadors in Brussels. She is a former Director & Head of the Regional Headquarters of the United Nations Economic ...
Jonathan Winer
Nonresident Scholar, Middle East Institute; Former United States Special Envoy for Libya
Jonathan M. Winer has been the United States Special Envoy for Libya, the deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement, and counsel to United States Senator John Kerry. He has written and lectured widely on U.S. Middle East policy, counter-terrorism, international money laundering, illicit networks, corruption, and U.S.-Russia issues. In 2016, Winer received the highest award granted by the Secretary of State, for “extraordinary service to the U.S. government” in avoiding the massacre of over 3,000 members of an Iranian dissident group in Iraq, and for leading U.S. policy in Libya “from a major foreign policy embarrassment to a fragile but democratic, internationally recognized government.” In 1999, he received the Department’s second highest award, fo ...
Jason Pack
Nonresident Scholar, Middle East Institute; Founder, Libya-Analysis LLC
Tarek Jason Pack is a consultant, author, and commentator with over two decades of experience living in, and working on, the Middle East. In 2004, he was a Fulbright Scholar in Syria. In 2008, he moved to Tripoli to assist Western businesses in reentering Libya amidst the late Qadhafi-era reforms. In 2011, Jason created Libya-Analysis LLC — a consultancy organization producing evidence-based analysis, forecasting, business intelligence, and commercial research on Libya. In 2015, Jason founded Eye on ISIS in Libya — a non-profit 501c3 monitoring service detailing the group’s history, its interactions with other jihadi actors, and Western actions toward the group. In 2016, he became the Senior Libya Analyst at CRCM North Africa, a German strategy firm. In 2017-18, he served as E ...
Amal Obeidi
Associate Professor of Comparative Politics, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Economics, University of Benghazi, Libya
Amal S M Obeidi is Associate Professor of Comparative Politics in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Economics at University of Benghazi, Libya.  Currently she is associate researcher in the DFG-funded research project entitled “Political in the Making” at Germany’s  University of Bayreuth.    Dr. Obeidi was two years as a Dean of the Faculty of Economics of University of (Benghazi), where she was also the head of the Political Science Department.  Dr Obeidi also was head of the Studies and Research unit at the Research Centre of the University of Benghazi from 2006-2008.  Dr. Obeidi’s publications include Political Culture in Libya (2001), The Political Elites in Libya (2008), The National Security in Libya: Challenges of the Transitional Period (2012). The Impac ...
Tarek Megerisi
Policy Fellow, North Africa and Middle East Programme, European Council on Foreign Relations
Tarek Megerisi is a policy fellow with the North Africa and Middle East programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is a political analyst and researcher who specialises in Libyan affairs and more generally politics, governance and development in the Arab world. Megerisi started his career in Tripoli, Libya with the Sadeq Institute and various INGOs providing diverse research and democratisation assistance to Libya’s post-revolutionary authorities between 2012-2014. Megerisi returned to London in 2014 and has since been working freelance as an analyst and researcher, advising on Libya policy to a range of international missions to Libya, commentating on Libyan developments for publications like Foreign Policy, and co-authoring policy briefs or assisting with t ...
Karim Mezran
Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council
Karim Mezran is director of the North Africa Initiative and resident senior fellow with the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East programs focusing on the processes of change in North Africa. As a distinguished Libyan-Italian scholar, Dr. Mezran brings enormous depth of understanding to the transition in Libya and elsewhere in the region. In addition, Dr. Mezran is currently an adjunct professor of Middle East studies at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he is teaching courses on the history and politics of North Africa. From 2002 to 2012, he was the director of the Center for American Studies in Rome. His analyses on the Middle East and North Africa have been widely published in Italian- and other-language journals and publications. He is the co-editor ...
Mary Fitzgerald
Independent Journalist
Mary Fitzgerald is a writer, researcher and consultant specialising in the Euro-Mediterranean region with a particular focus on Libya. Arriving in Benghazi days after anti-Gaddafi protests erupted there in February 2011, she spent several months on the ground in Libya reporting on the uprising that followed. She has worked on Libya since then and lived there in 2014. She has conducted research on Libya for the International Crisis Group (ICG), the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMED) and the European University Institute (EUI) among others. She has consulted for a number of international organisations working in Libya including in the areas of conflict mediation, civil society and youth empowerment. She has worked ...
Mohamed Eljarh
Co-Founder, Libya Outlook for Research and Consulting
Mohamed Eljarh is a Libyan affairs specialist. He is the co-founder of Libya Outlook for Research and Consulting. Previously, he was a fellow with the Atlantic Council focusing on Libya, and he was Foreign Policy Magazine's Libya contributor 2014-2017. He published two book chapters and numerous Think Tank reports and policy briefs on post-Qaddafi Libya. Eljarh is a contributor to Fikra Forum. ...
Emaddine Badi
Non Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council
Emadeddin Badi is a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Middle East Program at the Atlantic Council, where he focuses primarily on U.S and European policies towards Libya and the wider geopolitical implications of the conflict. Previously, he was a nonresident scholar at the Counterterrorism and Extremism Program at the Middle East Institute. Badi is an independent consultant who has worked with multiple development and international organizations with a focus on Libya. From 2015 to 2018, he gained hands-on experience programming the conflict-sensitive implementation of a flagship stabilization initiative implemented across Libya for UNDP. He also provides geopolitical risk analysis to private sector stakeholders on political risk and economic and development issues in Libya.  ...
Youness Abouyoub
Director, Governance and State-Building Division for the MENA Region, United Nations; Former Senior Political Advisor to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Libya
Former head of the political office of the UN Under-Secretary General for Conflict Prevention and senior political advisor to the UN Secretary General Special Envoy to Burundi. He directed the political office of the UN Secretary General Special Envoy to Yemen and acted as his senior special advisor. He also was the senior political officer in charge of the regional affairs in the UN political mission to Libya (UNSMIL) and head of office of the special representative of the UN Secretary General in Libya. He also served as Senior Regional Expert in the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on Sudan (Darfur) and worked for the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (New York) and the United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi. Mr. Youness Abouyoub holds a PhD in politi ...