![\"Nader](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Nader-Elgadi-1-1787226864.jpeg\")
Nader Elgadi runs a charity that hosts diaspora events for those keen on rebuilding Libya [Courtesy of Nader Elgadi]<\/p>\nLondon, United Kingdom \u2013 Sarah Mizran, a 32-year-old architect, was a teenager when Tripoli fell in August 2011, as opposition fighters swept into the capital.<\/p>\n
It was the beginning of the end for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Having ruled for 42 years, he was soon captured and killed near Sirte.<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
Eight years ago, Mizran left the city for the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
\u201cLibya loses more than just skills when young professionals leave,\u201d she told Al Jazeera. \u201cIt loses a sense of possibility when an entire generation grows up feeling that they have to leave in order to build a future, and that leads to a loss of hope in the country itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Already drawn to the concept of sustainable architecture and what it could mean for Libya, Mizran pursued a master\u2019s degree in architecture in southern England. She has spent recent years studying sites in Tripoli, working out what rebuilding the city might mean beyond simply putting up new buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, as an architect, I want to be part of rebuilding Libya\u2019s architectural landscape,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know exactly what that return will look like yet, but I know that remains part of the future that I\u2019m working towards.<\/p>\n
\u201cA sense of stability in the country will prompt a stronger wave of the diaspora wanting to return,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She was 24 when she arrived in the UK on a scholarship to study at the University of Kent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to learn a different professional culture, a different way of working, and in many ways just find my place again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She is far from alone.<\/p>\n
Nader Elgadi runs a charity that hosts diaspora events for those keen on rebuilding Libya [Courtesy of Nader Elgadi]<\/p>\n
Nader Elgadi, 36, was running his own media company in Tripoli when, in late 2014, fighting broke out around the capital\u2019s airport during Libya\u2019s second civil war.<\/p>\n
He also came to the UK for a master\u2019s degree and had planned to go home, but as threats to activists mounted, he stayed instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went from running my own business and living comfortably in Libya to starting my life from scratch in the UK,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first two years were really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elgadi founded Libya in the UK in 2018, a cultural charity \u201cto create the Libya that we wanted to have after we managed to end the dictatorship\u201d.<\/p>\n
The group hosts events for the diaspora community trying to build \u201ca sense of that country we always wished for\u201d.<\/p>\n
Home, \u2018something we create again and again\u2019<\/p>\n
Fifteen years on, both describe the UK as home, even as Libya pulls at them.<\/p>\n
\u201cHome is not something we find once and keep forever,\u201d Mizran said. \u201cIt\u2019s something we create again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elgadi calls himself \u201ca nomad\u201d who has stopped expecting to return for good, even as his consultancy still works with Libyan clients.<\/p>\n
Whether that dispersal of talent has held Libya back is up for debate.<\/p>\n
Tarek Megerisi, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said \u201ctens of thousands of very good, technically proficient people\u201d are still working in Libya\u2019s ministries, but claimed they are blocked from doing their jobs by more senior officials with little interest in governing.<\/p>\n
Much of that took root soon after the revolution, he believes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the revolution there was a mass return of Libyans from all across the world. Many skilled young professionals, but also older Libyans, whose qualifications and whose experience were often vastly overstated, used their standing to secure political positions and promised to lead the country to democracy. Instead, they basically just acted like Gaddafi\u2019s government did,\u201d Megerisi said.<\/p>\n
He said corruption plagues some ministries in an environment that has driven away the generation that came of age after 2011.<\/p>\n
\u201cYoung professionals who gained qualifications and had early experience working in the late stage of Gaddafi\u2019s Libya, which was a bit more open,\u201d were genuinely excited the revolution might catalyse their careers, he said. \u201cAll of that kind of just got run into a quagmire.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very sad to see \u2026 now all the young generations who have any ambition for their life, they just want to leave the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
He summed up Libya\u2019s governance by paraphrasing Kahlil Gibran\u2019s poem, Pity the Nation, \u201cPity the country that has two governments and nobody interested in governing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Megerisi said the talent pool \u201cwould come back in a heartbeat should there be a real, valid, credible opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Toby Chitayat, an associate at CRI Menas, a UK risk consultancy, is more sceptical that the brain drain is doing much damage.<\/p>\n
Set against Libya\u2019s east-west split, its volatile oil revenue and endemic corruption, he argued its effect on governance or investor confidence \u201cis comparatively minimal\u201d but acknowledged that it remains \u201cfar too early to say anything definitive about the prospect of serious re-engagement with the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London, United Kingdom \u2013 Sarah Mizran, a 32-year-old architect, was a teenager when Tripoli fell in August 2011,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[516,252,45006,42,432,45005,18,14,5,6],"class_list":["post-108833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-conflict","tag-europe","tag-libya","tag-middle-east","tag-migration","tag-muammar-gaddafi","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117139927627762701","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}