On Thursday 29 July, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) hosted an online Live Briefing on Small Arms and Light Weapons and terrorism financing in Post-Qadhafi Libya.
Post-Qadhafi Libya has played a pivotal role in the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) not only in the Middle East and North Africa but also in other regions, as far as West Africa and the Horn of Africa. With the fall of the Qadhafi regime in 2011, much of its military arsenal, one of the largest and most diverse in the region, fell into the hands of various non-state actors inside and outside the country, including designated terrorist organisations. This discussion examines how Islamic State and al-Qaeda affiliated groups in Libya have accessed small arms and light weapons and explores how that enabled their expansion within Libya, including by boosting their financing streams.
Presenter:
Mary Fitzgerald, Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR)
Discussant:
Amanda Kadlec, Founder of Evolve Governance, Former UN Security Council Panel of Experts for Libya, and Fulbright Scholar.
This briefing was organised as part of Project CRAAFT's Online Symposium Series. Recordings of other research briefings from Project CRAAFT can be found here.
