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Libya: US woman appointed special adviser to UN chief in Tripoli

US diplomat Stephanie Williams has been appointed special adviser to the UN secretary-general for Libya, where she will be staying, the UN announced today, following the sudden resignation in late November of UN envoy Jan Kubis a month before the crucial presidential election.

The Arab diplomat had temporarily taken over the post of UN envoy to Geneva in 2020, as she was second in the hierarchy of the UN mission in Libya between 2018 and 2020. Last year, she made several advances in the Libyan peace process.

This appointment, a privilege of Antonio Guterres and which has the advantage that it does not require the formal approval of the 15 members of the Security Council, contrary to the position of the envoy, fills an unpleasant gap in the UN as the December 24 presidential elections approach. the country turned the page after ten years of war.

“Williams’ appointment as special adviser guarantees leadership (of the UN) during this crucial month of December,” said UN spokesman Stefan Duzaric.

Williams “will be based in Tripoli and will begin work in the coming days,” he added, hinting that the UN chief had rejected Jan Koubis’ proposal to remain in office during the election campaign.

Williams “will lead good service and mediation efforts with Libyan stakeholders, regional and international, to continue to implement the three components of the dialogue – political, security and economic – and to support the holding of presidential and “parliamentary elections,” the UN said in a statement.

The sudden resignation of former Slovak minister Jan Kubis, a UN veteran on a mission to Libya as early as January, after serving as envoy to Lebanon, was sent to Antonio Guterres on November 17th. It was kept secret until it was accepted on November 23 by the Secretary-General, without the UN ever really explaining why.

According to diplomats, Jan Koubis refused from the summer to move his headquarters from Geneva to Tripoli as planned for 2022. Between him and Antonio Guterres the relationship had reached a point of “rupture”, “they could no longer work together “, says one of the diplomats, without being able to clarify what caused the resignation a month before the presidential elections in Libya.

Source: AMPE

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Source From: Capital

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