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| Dr. Osama Kubbar (left) and Dr. Zuhair Hamdee (right) [AlJazeera] |
There is a difference in opinion on the Libyan revolution’s progress. Some analysts argue the revolution has been erased by the counter-revolution, while others speculate that this is simply a deviation from the revolution’s intended path, one that will correct itself if proper solutions are implemented. On 3 September 2014, AlJazeera Centre for Studies hosted a closed roundtable, “Libya’s Political and Military Divisions and Future Scenarios”, inviting Dr. Osama Kubbar and Dr. Zuhair Hamdee to share their insights and explain what is happening in the country’s ongoing political transition.
Political analyst and Special Adviser at the Strategic Studies Centre in Doha, Dr. Kubbar was able to offer a first-hand account of the country’s crisis, noting that the current internal struggle is between revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries, with the latter being coined as a “deep state” which threatens the full extraction of years of oppression by the Qaddafi regime. In his view, the media has not managed to capture Libya’s reality by focusing far too much on public displays and not enough on military movements on the ground in the country.
Dr. Zoheir Hamedi, Assistant Researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, focused more on analysing Libya in light of the regional and international contexts as well as historic factors contributing to the country’s current crisis. He questioned intervention by foreign powers and the extent to which such intervention would be beneficial to Libya now and in the future.
For Dr. Kubbar, the solution lies in acknowledging the impact of long years of oppression as well as building strong institutions able to weather crises. For Dr. Hamedi, a military solution will destroy the country – instead, he advocated an internal resolution with an internationally-brokered national dialogue element to resolve Libya’s political and military divisions.