Syra in Crisis: What’s Next? A panel discussion

The crisis in Syria is deepening and will soon enter its sixth year with no visible end on the horizon. The conflict has left more than 300.000 people dead and produced an enormous wave of displacement. An estimated 13.5 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance, not least in the heavily ravaged Aleppo. What are the prospects for a peaceful solution in Syria and what will the fall of Aleppo entail for the future developments of the conflict?

This panel discussion will try to shed light on the ongoing crisis in the country, the political power game in the region and the hardships endured by the Syrian population both at home and abroad.

Panel participants:

BITTE HAMMARGREN – Editor, journalist and Turkey/MENA Analyst. She has a long career at the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) behind her. During the years 2001–2012 she was SvD’s Turkey and Middle East correspondent and prior to that, Political & EU Reporter. Between the years 2013 – 2015 she was covering the region as a freelance reporter, analyst, blogger and writer. Since the beginning of 2016 Hammargren holds the position as the editor of an online magazine at The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI).

MALENA REMBE – Head of the Swedish Red Cross in Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Based in Beirut since 2014. Previously worked at Swedish News Desk, Swedish Radio, The Institute of Foreign Policy, the UN War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, Chief Analyst at the Swedish Security Service and for the EU in Afghanistan. She studied Middle East Studies and Arabic in Lund and Political Science and English Literature in Stockholm.

BIRGITTA HOLST-ALANI – Swedish diplomat with over 40 years’ experience related to the Middle East. She started her career at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the mid-1980s after having spent several years in Baghdad doing postgraduate research. Between 1993 -1998, Birgitta Holst Alani worked with disarmament and non-proliferation issues. The following four years she served as the Deputy Director of SIPRI (1998 – 2002) and thereafter as the Swedish ambassador to Nigeria. Holst-Alani has also served as an advisor to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and recently to the UN Special Envoy to Syria.

Moderator:

MARIKA GRIEHSEL – freelance journalist, foreign correspondent, documentary filmmaker and moderator. In the 1990s Griehsel worked as the Africa correpondent for the Swedish national broadcaster SVT. She has previously moderated for government agencies such as Folke Bernadotte Academy, SIDA, Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SIPRI.

Free for members. 20kr for non-members (single entry)
You will be able to register for a one year membership (50kr) before the lecture.

Welcome!