Crisis in the Sahel: Overview

MENASource
May 27, 2025

Beyond ceasefires: Reimagining stability and engagement in Libya

By
Karim Mezran and Roberta Maggi

With all major political institutions mired in crisis, a renewed approach to peace enforcement is pivotal to building stability.

Libya
Middle East

Crisis in the Sahel: Overview

MENASource
May 14, 2025

Choppy waters: Egypt’s waning patience with President Trump

By
Shahira Amin

The US president’s Suez Canal demands signal “a shift in US-Egyptian relations” which experts describe as “at their lowest ebb in decades.”

Middle East
North Africa

Crisis in the Sahel: Overview

EnergySource
Mar 11, 2025

The Mediterranean must work collectively to harness the power of renewables

By
Karim Elgendy

The EU Commission’s recent release of its Clean Industrial Deal underscored regional commitment to decarbonization. To capitalize on this momentum, the Mediterranean must engage in cross-border collaboration to overcome geopolitical tension and limited finance to achieve its renewables goals.

Energy & Environment
Energy Markets & Governance

Programs

Middle East Programs

Working with our allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.

EXPLORE THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL’S MIDDLE EAST PROGRAMS

Libya

Crisis in the Sahel: Overview

MENASource
May 16, 2025

The killing of Abdul Ghani al-Kikli may be a turning point for Libya

By
Karim Mezran and Dario Cristiani

The killing is considered to be part of a push to eliminate influential militia leaders and consolidate GNU loyalist control over Tripoli.

Libya
Middle East

Crisis in the Sahel: Overview

MENASource
Apr 30, 2025

From Tripoli to Tehran: Lessons from Libya in US-Iran nuclear talks

By
Yaseen Rashed

Twenty-one years later, the nuclear disarmament of Libya serves as a model for the United States in current nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Iran
Libya

Crisis in the Sahel: Overview

MENASource
Apr 16, 2025

Solving Libya’s economic collapse will require confrontation—not consensus

By
Emadeddin Badi

If the status quo continues, the next phase of Libya’s crisis will not be quiet erosion. It will be public revolt.

Africa
Economy & Business

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Content

New Atlanticist

May 22, 2013

Crisis in the Sahel: Overview

By Rudolph Atallah

North Africa and the intertwined Sahel, from Egypt to Mauritania, is a region that has undergone profound and destabilizing political and social change in the last several years, especially since the “Arab Spring” of 2011. Nascent political systems, newly empowered non-state actors, and underlying structural problems in the region contribute to an increasingly volatile mix, […]

National Security North Africa

Issue Brief

May 21, 2013

Post-revolutionary politics in Libya: Inside the General National Congress

By Karim Mezran, Fadel Laman, and Eric Knecht

In the latest issue brief from the Rafik Hariri Center at the Atlantic Council, “Post-revolutionary Politics in Libya: Inside the General National Congress,” authors Karim Mezran, Fadel Lamen, and Eric Knecht analyze the evolution of Libya’s political landscape since the July 2012 elections for the General National Congress (GNC). In the lead-up to the GNC […]

Libya

New Atlanticist

May 21, 2013

Three Benghazi Myths

By R. Nicholas Burns

The Benghazi controversy’s return to Washington’s raging partisan wars continues to portray our political culture at its worst.

Libya National Security

Event Recap

May 13, 2013

Egypt’s Growing Judicial Activism Stymies Democratic Consolidation

On May 13, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East held an event to release a new issue brief, “Egypt’s Litigious Transition: Judicial Intervention and the Muddied Road to Democracy.” Director of the Rafik Hariri Center Michele Dunne moderated a discussion with the author Mahmoud Hamad, who is assistant professor at Drake […]

North Africa

Issue Brief

May 13, 2013

Egypt’s litigious transition: Judicial intervention and the muddied road to democracy

By Mahmoud Hamad

The Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East is pleased to release a new issue brief, Egypt’s Litigious Transition: Judicial Intervention and the Muddied Road to Democracy. Mahmoud Hamad, assistant professor of politics and international relations at Drake University, evaluates to the evolving role of Egypt’s judiciary in the country’s transition since the ouster of […]

North Africa

MENASource

May 8, 2013

The Questionable Campaign Behind Libya’s Political Isolation Law

By Eric Knecht

The recent passage of a political isolation law in Libya’s General National Congress (GNC), under pressure from armed militants, represents the most significant development during its tenure and threatens to derail the government of Prime Minister Ali Zidan. 

Libya

MENASource

May 7, 2013

Frustration and Isolation in Libya

By Karim Mezran and Fadel Lamen

The next few weeks in Libya will be extremely critical for the government of Prime Minister Ali Zidan. Passage of the so-called political isolation law is a clear sign that the offensive organized against the prime minister by a coalition of opponents has been successful. There is no doubt, that the law, which bans from […]

Libya

Libya Working Group

May 6, 2013

Libya Needs the US for its Transition to Democracy

By Charles Dunne Stephen McInerney and Karim Mezran

Deborah Jones is scheduled to appear Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on her nomination as the new U.S. ambassador to Libya. This will present a stark reminder of the events that took the life of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans on Sept. 11, 2012.

Libya

Libya Working Group

May 3, 2013

Libyan Stability at Risk

By Jason Pack and Karim Mezran

Last week’s attack on the French Embassy in Tripoli was the first significant terrorist attack against foreign interests in the Libyan capital since the fall of Muammar al-Qaddafi. More crucially, it marks an escalation in the covert war being waged to determine the future orientation, institutions, constitution, and very soul of the new Libya. At […]

Libya

Event Recap

Apr 26, 2013

Roundtable on Egypt’s Changing Political Scene

The Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a roundtable discussion with former MP Dr. Amr Hamzawy and Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Director Mr. Bahey el Din Hassan on the emerging politics and the unsettling human rights environment in Egypt.

North Africa
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Experts

Millennium fellow

Aina Monfort

COO, Airbus Helicopters Spain

Millennium Leadership Program

Indo-Pacific North Africa

Millennium fellow

Alexandra Hubbard-Gourlay

Senior Director, Laurel Strategies

Millennium Leadership Program

Economy & Business Media

Fellow

Nicholas Hopton

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Europe & Eurasia Iran

Fellow

Perrihan Al-Riffai

Nonresident Senior Fellow

empowerME Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Economy & Business

Staff

Amy Cowley

Program Assistant

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Conflict North & West Africa

Fellow

Gabriele Natalizia

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Europe Center

Europe & Eurasia Italian
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