The Throne Wars
Single Delegate Crisis Committee
thronewars@uclamun.org
Committee Summary
Topic: Al-Kahina’s Desert Reign (7th Century)
Committee Summary: Welcome back to the 7th century! While the peoples of Europe were largely divided between those still under Byzantine control and those seeking to establish a new power balance after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Middle East, Asia and North Africa were dealing with the growth of a new superpower: the Umayyad caliphate. Under Abd al-Malik’s rule, the Muslim state was expanding their territory in a rapid wave of conquests in all directions, with the governor of their North African front being committed to getting the region under the caliphate’s complete control. Another Berber, Kusayla, led troops in a valiant effort to defeat the Arabs, but after several successes was eventually captured and killed. Now, leaderless, you’ll have to find a way to unite in the face of the looming threat of Arabian attacks, with a charismatic woman named Dihya, commonly known as Al-Kahina for her supposed psychic abilities, at the forefront of it all. And, thanks to the eradication of Byzantine presence from the region, there is no buffer to buy you time or save you.
Meet The Staff
Ashima Bhatia
Chair
Hello Delegates!
My name is Ashima Bhatia (she/her), and I’m thrilled to be your Chair for Throne Wars: Al Khahina’s Desert Reign at LAMUN XX. I’m a second-year Biology major at UCLA, hoping to pursue a career in medicine someday, but for now, I spend most of my free time hopping between LA coffee shops and binge watching How I Met Your Mother for the 1000th time..
I’ve been involved in MUN for six years now, starting as a high school freshman who barely understood what a crisis arc was. Since then, MUN has become such a large part of my life. I’ve competed, staffed, and chaired across conferences, and each year I come back because of the community and the chaos. This will be my first time chairing at LAMUN, and I’m genuinely excited to help craft a committee environment where you can experiment, take risks, and immerse yourselves in a world far removed from your everyday lives.
Our committee transports us to the 7th century, into the political turbulence surrounding Al Kahina, a formidable North African leader navigating rebellion and a region caught between empires. You’ll be stepping into a world where power is fragile and every decision you make reshapes the landscape around you. Whether you’re negotiating tribal alliances or trying to outmaneuver your rivals, this committee asks you to think strategically.
What I love most about crisis is how personal it becomes. You’re not just representing a state, you’re stepping into a character’s mind and figuring out what they want, what they fear, and how far they’re willing to go. Some of you will thrive in diplomacy while others will thrive in ambition, and I know plenty of you will thrive in pure chaos. Wherever you fall, I hope this weekend pushes you to try something new and walk away proud of the story you helped build.
If you have any questions before conference weekend, feel free to reach out. I can’t wait to meet you all and see how you reshape the throne.
All the best,
Ashima Bhatia
Chair | Throne Wars: Al Khahina’s Desert Reign | LAMUN XX
thronewars@uclamun.org
Sofia Behzadi
Crisis Director
Dear Delegates,
Hello! My name is Sofia Behzadi (she/her) and I am a third-year majoring in Computer Science and Engineering (think 80% computer science, 20% electrical engineering).
I’m a born and bred LA native (so I never got to escape LA public school) but my family hails from Bulgaria. Outside of MUN, I root for Manchester United every weekend and spend my vacations skiing (my knowledge of the runs at Mammoth is probably mildly concerning for someone who lives 5 hours away). However, as a whole I have been taken hostage by the engineering lifestyle, spending the rest of my time drowning in my course load.
My high school’s MUN team was too small to even dream about hosting our own conferences, so my first staffing experiences came in my freshman year, where I staffed crisis committees, both at BruinMUN (our high school conference) and LAMUN (the Mongol invasion of Korea).
Last year I CDed for BruinMUN, on Japan’s Hogen Rebellion, and the April Uprising for LAMUN. This fall I CDed my first spec committee for BruinMUN, and while it was a nice change of scenery I’m very excited to be back to crisis for this conference.
Speaking of our committee, I have a lot of hope that it’ll be a fun one.
While we are set in a very traditional theme, that of warring states and the fight against conquest, unlike most crisis committees our head of state is a woman. So, it’ll be interesting to see the different power dynamics as you fight against the Arabs and their formidable leader who seeks to continue their dominance across the Middle East and North Africa. Plus, those cultures had very rich belief systems, very different from the ones we’re used to in Europe, so I can’t wait to see how that will come into play.
See you all in April!
Best,
Sofia Behzadi
Crisis Director | The Throne Wars: Al-Kahina’s Desert Reign, 7th Century | LAMUN 21