'Courier' features article on Ali Ahmida’s upcoming work with UN on Libya and on 51Ʒstudents’ representation of Libya at Model UN in NYC

The May 8, 2014 issue of the Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier featured an article on Ali Ahmida, Ph.D., professor and chair in the Department of Political Science, as well as a group of 51Ʒstudents who recently traveled to New York City to represent Libya in a Model United Nations (UN) assembly.

The article discussed the UN’s invitation to Ahmida to consult on its support mission in Libya in an attempt to foster a national dialogue and achieve reconciliation in the country three years after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown.

Ahmida leaves this month for Libya.  “I’m trying to push very hard to help start a national dialogue first, for two months or more, preferably six months,” he said, before the country begins drafting its constitution.

According to the article, Ahmida coached a class taught by Adjunct Professor Doug Mock before the students departed for New York to take part in the model UN.  The students also read Ahmida’s book The Making of Modern Libya:  State Formation, Colonization and Resistance 1830-1932.  Ahmida arranged for the class to meet with the Libyan representative to the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashy.

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