UN Security Council to hold session for the appointment of Libya Special envoy

The UN Security Council is expected to hold a session on Libya this Monday, with the appointment of a new head of UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on top of the agenda, Libya Update reports.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week presented to the members of the Council the new candidate, Abdullah Bitali, to take the vacant position, the media notes citing diplomatic sources.

The Senegalese diplomat is likely to get the endorsement of Russia and China which had previously opposed more than once the appointment of the American Stephanie Williams as head of the Mission.

Special Adviser on Libya to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Stephanie Williams was the de facto head of UNSMIL, which has been experiencing a leadership vacuum, since December 2021, after the resignation of its former head, the Slovakian Jan Kubis, who was exercising his duties from Geneva.

Williams’s mandate came to end at the end of last month.
The UN Chief opted for the Senegalese diplomat at the demand of the African Union (AU) to appoint a candidate from the continent. The AU blames the international organization for marginalizing the African role in the political process to resolve the Libyan crisis.

Should Abdullah Batali be appointed as the head of UNSMIL, he will be the eighth envoy after the American Stephanie Williams, the Slovakian Jan Kubis, the Lebanese Ghassan Salameh, the German Martin Kobler, the Spanish Bernardino Leon, the Lebanese Tariq Mitri, the British Ian Martin and the Jordanian Abd al-Ilah al-Khatib.