The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a special envoy to broker peace in Libya, although Russia and China abstained from voting on the resolution that also extended the U.N. mission in the country.
January 28, 2021 at 8:00 am
Slovakia s former Foreign Minister Jan Kubis was approved as the United Nations new Libya envoy almost one year after the last envoy, Ghassan Salame, resigned. He is number seven in almost ten years and will also head the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). In a statement announcing the appointment, UN Chief António Guterres conveyed a rather long and carefully written CV of his new envoy, not forgetting that the experienced diplomat speaks five languages, excluding Arabic.
As is usually the case, Kubis s resumé does not mention any of his failures while working for the UN in countries like Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan, among others. To see how successful the UN has been in conflict resolution, just look at Afghanistan or Iraq today.
Jan Kubis in a file photo. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani/File Photo
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plans to appoint veteran diplomat Jan Kubis as his envoy in Libya nearly a year after the last mediator stepped down, according to a letter to the U.N. Security Council seen by Reuters on Thursday.
If there are no objections by any of the 15-member council by Friday evening, Kubis will succeed Ghassan Salame, who quit the role in March last year due to stress. Salame’s deputy Stephanie Williams has been acting Libya envoy.
Kubis, a former Slovakian foreign minister, is currently the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon. He has also served as the U.N. special envoy in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Acting Special Representative of the Secretary General for Libya Stephanie Williams Briefing to the Security Council
Format
Members of the Security Council,
I wish to congratulate Tunisia for assuming the Presidency of the Council for the month of January.
This month marks one year since Chancellor Merkel of Germany and the Secretary-General convened the Berlin Conference on 19 January 2020. The Conference did not put an immediate end to the conflict and the suffering of the Libyan people. Nor did foreign support to the warring parties relent and indeed, this blatant foreign interference continues.
However, the 55-point communiqué agreed by the Member States and partner organizations in Berlin articulated a comprehensive framework to address the full range of issues fuelling the Libyan conflict. Its subsequent endorsement by this Council, through resolution 2510 (2020), anchored our effort to bring the Libyan parties to the negotiating table.
So far no concrete dates have been agreed, the Russian deputy foreign minister said
MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Moscow will be among the first world capitals United Nations Secretary General’s new Special Envoy on Libya Jan Kubis plans to visit, Russian President’s Special Envoy for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday.
Read also Yes, we spoke on Friday, he said when asked by TASS about Kubis’ possible visit to Moscow. Of course, he is yet to get into the swing of things, hold contacts with the Libyans. Then, one of the first capitals he plans to visit in his capacity of the Libya envoy will naturally be Moscow.