EVENT DETAILS

Most observers agree that it is only a matter of time until Muammar Qaddafi will be forced to exit Libya’s political scene. After his departure, Libya will face the daunting challenge of rebuilding its political system from the ground up. Many people inside and outside Libya have already started thinking about potential transitional mechanisms and which groups will play important roles during the transitional phase.

Esam Omiesh, director of the Libyan Emergency Task Force in Washington, will discuss how the transition may unfold from the perspective of the Transitional National Council. Fadel Lamen, president of the American Libyan Council, will consider potential roles that the United States and other outside actors can take during the transition. Carnegie’s Marina Ottaway will moderate.

A light lunch will be provided beginning at 12:00 p.m.

Fadel Lamen is president of the Washington-based American Libyan Council (ALC), a non-profit organization dedicated to effectively strengthening U.S.-Libyan relations through the promotion of educational, cultural, and technology relations. The ALC also advises the Transitional Libyan Council on education, transition to democracy, and national reconciliation. Lamen has focused on cultural, political, and economic issues in the Middle East and North Africa for over 20 years, and his analyses appear frequently in the media. He has also collaborated on U.S. public diplomacy initiatives in the region. He currently serves as a senior cultural adviser for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Esam Omiesh currently serves as president of the Libyan Emergency Task Force in Washington D.C. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque and former president of the Muslim American Society, and as such announced the organization's 2005 anti-terrorism campaign alongside a coalition of U.S.-based Muslim groups. He was elected chief of general surgery at INOVA Alexandria hospital in 2006, and also serves on its Medical Executive Committee (MEC). In 2007, he earned the prestigious “Outstanding Physician of the Year” award. Marina Ottaway is a senior associate in the Carnegie Middle East Program and works on issues of political transformation in the Middle East and Gulf security. A long-time analyst of the formation and transformation of political systems, she has also written on political reconstruction in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and African countries.