Rebecca Murray will present insights from her recent fieldwork in Libya, focusing on the situation since the launch of the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces’ campaign on the capital Tripoli in April 2019, and the proxy war that’s ensued.
Drawing on extensive field experience in west and south Libya, the roundtable will aim to explore the current war in Tripoli from the perspective of the battlefield, residents and political actors, and its impact on Libya’s south. It will particularly question whether the conflict and wider developments – including the uptick in the activities of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) in Niger and southern Libya – exacerbates the instability of social, political and security dynamics that have characterised the region since 2011.
Speaker | Rebecca Murray is a freelance journalist and field researcher who has focused on Libya since the aftermath of the 2011 revolution. She has travelled extensively across the country, and made frequent visits to southern Libya to understand the catalysts of conflict and the perspectives of local communities. She has authored field reports including Southern Libya Destabiized: The Case of Ubari (2017, Small Arms Survey) and contributed a chapter to The Libyan Revolution and its Aftermath (Oxford University Press, 2016), and reported for media including Vice News, Al Jazeera English, Middle East Eye and McClatchy.