Published on : 15/08/2022 – 01:52
The UN Secretary General’s special adviser for Libya, Stephanie Williams, has completed her mission without the Security Council being able to agree on a new special envoy. Despite the efforts of Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, there was no consensus. The urgency of the Libyan situation and the risk of a new explosion of violence call for action. A meeting is normally scheduled for Monday August 15 to try to agree on a nomination.
Since the resignation of the Slovak diplomat Jan Cabbage of his post as United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Libya, in November 2021, this post is vacant. The American diplomat Stephanie Williams, appointed shortly following as special adviser to the UN secretary general (a way of circumventing the vote in the Security Council, where there were many disagreements), completed her mission on 31 July. And at the time of considering the future, the differences persist.
In June 2022, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), had proposed the former Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sabri Boukadoum, to lead the Manul, the UN support mission in Libya. His candidacy was consensus, but ultimately, the United Arab Emirates opposed it. It was a surprise.
Algeria suspected the United States of being behind this refusal which adds to others, such as that of the Algerian Ramtane Lamamra or the Ghanaian Hannah Tetteh. This one had however also made consensus around his candidacy, but which was rejected by Washington.
The name circulating behind the scenes of the UN this time, and which seems to have been proposed to the members of the Council by the Secretary General, is that of the Senegalese diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily. This former minister had already carried out missions for the UN, notably in the Central African Republic.
The African Union (AU), before the permanent divisions within the Security Council, pleads for a joint UN/AU special envoy for Libya. Last June, she did not hesitate to propose a list of names from the African continent, but the divisions persisted.
