BIDDEFORD — It’s been 2 1/2 years since the overthrow of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Although the rebels won, the country is still in a state of turmoil.

If the situation continues as it is, with armed militias cutting off electricity and water supplies, a weak central government and a lack of unity among different tribal and regional groups, “Libya could disintegrate,” said University of New England’s Political Science Department Chairman Ali Ahmida.

“But,” he said, “it’s not inevitable.”

Ahmida said he is hopeful that an effort by the United Nations working with Libyan leaders can bring stability to the nation.

Having studied Libyan society for 25 years, Ahmida is an expert on the subject of his native country. Because of this expertise, he was selected to consult with the U.N. Support Mission in Libya, or UNSMIL, to provide information about the regional groups.

Ahmida will work with the mission for three weeks in May, and one or two weeks in the fall.

Through talks, workshops and a paper, Ahmida will provide information regarding regional and tribal politics including identifying the main tribal groups in the country, their leadership structures, key figures, social reach and political influence.

The UNSMIL is tasked with, among other things, helping Libyan leaders transition to a democratic government, assisting with the formation of a permanent constitution, promoting the rule of law, protecting human rights and restoring public security, according to the UNSMIL website.

Ahmida said he will help provide insight into Libyan society to U.N. staff members working on these issues.

“Libya is at a turning point,” he said.

“With the right leadership, it could become a model” for the region, said Ahmida. Without that, the nation could be in a constant state of strife and violence, he said, like Iraq and Somalia.

Part of the problem among the different factions, he said, is that “right now, everyone holds onto grudges.” What is needed in Libya is “forgiving short-term grudges for the sake of building a better future,” said Ahmida.

Crimes that have occurred should be “recognized, recorded and made public,” he said, as a way for healing to begin. But only through compromise will the promise of a truly democratic Libya be realized, he said.

Ahmida has worked with the United Nations twice before. He was one of five scholars invited to speak to the U.N. Security Council on Conflict Resolution in Africa on June 7, 2004; and was one of six scholars commissioned to assess the role and the performance of the United Nations developmental program in four Arab countries in early 2008.

In addition to consulting with the UNSMIL, Ahmida will also chair an international conference on Transitional Justice, Truth and National Reconciliation in Tripoli, Libya from May 20-22.

Besides teaching at the University of New England on the Biddeford campus and chairing the UNE Political Science Department, Ahmida has published major articles in “Critique,” “Arab Future” and “International Journal of Islamic and Arabic Studies.” He has authored and edited several books, including “Bridges Across the Sahara: Social Economic and Cultural Impact of the Trans-Sahara Trade during the 19th and 20 Centuries,” in 2009. His 2005 book, “Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya,” Routledge Press, was also translated and issued in Italian and most recently in 2009 in Arabic by the Center of Arab Unity Studies in Beirut. He also authored an influential op-ed piece in the New York Times in 2011 entitled “Why Qaddafi Has Already Lost.”

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324 or [email protected].