The UN Security Council on Tuesday approved a proposal by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint Bulgarian Nickolay Mladenov as the UN Libya special envoy and Norwegian Tor Wennesland as the UN Middle East envoy, diplomats said.
Mladenov will replace Ghassan Salame, who stepped down as the UN Libya envoy in March due to stress, and Wennesland succeeds Mladenov, who has spent the past five years as the UN mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.
The appointments end months of bickering among council members sparked by a US push to split the Libya role, with one person running the UN political mission and another focused on conflict mediation. The Security Council agreed to that proposal in September, but Russia and China abstained.
The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday approved a proposal by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint Bulgarian Nickolay Mladenov as the U.N. Libya special envoy and Norwegian Tor Wennesland as the U.N. Middle East envoy, diplomats said. https://t.co/8iOy8TDYz7
— Michelle Nichols (@michellenichols) December 15, 2020
Libya descended into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of leader Muammar Gadhafi in 2011. In October, the two major sides in the country’s war – the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) and Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) – agreed on a ceasefire.
“The members of the Security Council underlined the importance of a credible and effective Libyan-led Ceasefire Monitoring Mechanism and looked forward to a comprehensive report by the Secretary-General on the proposals for effective ceasefire monitoring under the auspices of the United Nations,” the 15-member body said in a statement on Tuesday.
The council also reiterated a call for the withdrawal of all foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libya.
Wennesland is currently Norway’s special envoy on the Middle East peace process. The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war
— Ongoing talks —
The UN envoy to Libya said Tuesday rivals failed to agree on a mechanism to choose a transitional government that would lead the conflict-stricken country to elections in December next year.
Stephanie Williams told an online meeting for the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum that she would form an advisory committee to help bridge the gaps among the participants and “make concrete progress.”
The 75-member forum reached an agreement to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 24, 2021. However, it failed to break the deadlock on the selection mechanism for the executive authority despite six online meetings since their face-to-face talks in Tunisia in November, Williams said.
Williams said she would announce the legal committee to work on constitutional arrangements for the elections. The committee is expected to convene Monday, before its face-to-face meeting next month, she said.
New UN Special Envoy to Libya will be Nickolay Mladenov.
— Mustafa Almahjoub (@UnarmedLibyan) December 15, 2020
He brings a lot of experience and was previously appointed by UN Sec Gen
as Personal Rep to PLO & Palestinian Authority. He also served as Bulgaria’s Minster of Foreign Affairs & MoD.
I wish him the best of luck. ?? pic.twitter.com/ywr5xDwkRz
“I am fully committed, the train has left the station on this process, there is no going back … Let’s not litigate the past. There has been a lot of litigation of the past, but we need to look forward,” she said.
No progress was announced on the issue of foreign forces and mercenaries since they inked the cease-fire deal almost two months ago.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
