December 24, 2020 at 9:15 am
Acting United Nations (UN) Envoy to Libya Stephanie Williams announced on 23 October: [It is] a crucial sign of hope for the Libyan people. Williams was enthusiastically describing a permanent ceasefire just signed in Geneva between Libya s two competing authorities. The document called for several requirements to be met for a ceasefire to become permanent. One crucial requirement was the departure of all foreign fighters and forces from Libya within three months of the ceasefire agreement. Three months have passed, and no one has left so far.
In fact, more arms, fighters and equipment have been arriving into the chaotic country.
Thursday, 24 December, 2020 - 09:45
Ghassan Salame. (Reuters) London – Ibrahim Hamidi
Lebanese former minister of culture, professor of international relations and former United Nations envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame said the political and economic impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic on our daily lives has dwarfed all other issues.
“We are living in an ailing world in every meaning of the word. The pandemic coincided with a time of great imbalance in the global system. Its outbreak accelerated several changes in international relations that had already begun,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat in an interview.
“It also kicked off changes to that very system, especially in ties between China and the United States,” he noted.
Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov has turned down an offer to lead the UN mission in conflict-stricken Libya, according to a UN spokesman.
Mladenov told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday he would not take up the position of special envoy for the North African country “for personal and family reasons”, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday.
“Mr Mladenov told the Secretary-General in a letter that he had taken this decision for personal and family reasons,” Dujarric said.
The announced came as the 48-year-old’s term as the UN special envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, a position he has occupied since 2015, was set to expire.
Push to ban pro-Kurdish HDP erodes Turkey’s political pluralism further
The price for Erdogan’s attempts to silence Turkey’s Kurdish population will have to be paid for years to come
Timing of HDP charges suggests Turkey is becoming more repressive against the Kurds and even more nationalistic
Updated 26 March 2021
March 25, 2021 21:05
MISSOURI, USA: Every March, Kurds, Persians, Azeris, Tajiks, and others celebrate Newroz, the spring equinox festival of the new year. In the Kurdish version of Newroz, legends surrounding the festival focus on a mythical blacksmith of antiquity named Kawa, who saved normal people from a terrible tyrant. The Kurdish version of Newroz therefore comes replete with connotations of freedom from tyranny, oppression, and injustice.
UN: Mladenov turns down offer to lead UN mission in Libya
FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2017 file photo, the U.N. special envoy for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov, attends a press conference at the (UNSCO) offices in Gaza City. Mladenov has turned down an offer to lead the U.N. mission in conflict-stricken Libya, according to a U.N. spokesman. Mladenov told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, that he would not take up the position of special envoy for the North African country âfor personal and family reasons,â said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)