(United Nations) An American diplomat, Stephanie Williams, has been appointed special advisor to the UN Secretary-General for Libya, where she will reside, the Organization announced on Monday, after the sudden resignation at the end of November of the UN envoy Jan Kubis a month before a crucial presidential election in this country.
This Arabic-speaking diplomat had assumed the interim position of UN envoy in Geneva in 2020 after having been number two in the UN mission in Libya between 2018 and 2020. Last year, she had promoted several advances in the process of Libyan peace.
This appointment, prerogative of Antonio Guterres and which has the advantage of not requiring a formal endorsement from the 15 members of the Security Council unlike the post of emissary, avoids an embarrassing vacuum at the UN as the presidential election of December 24 supposed to turn the page on ten years of war.
“Very critical” month of December
“This assignment of Mme Williams as special advisor guarantees a (UN) leadership in place during this very critical month of December, ”confirmed UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
“She will be based in Tripoli and will start her work in the coming days,” he added, hinting that the UN chief had rejected Jan Kubis’ proposal, with the contract expiring on December 10, to remain in office during the election period.
“She will lead the efforts of good offices and mediation with the Libyan, regional and international stakeholders, in order to continue the implementation of the three components of the inter-Libyan dialogue – political, security and economic – and to support the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections, ”said a UN press release.
The sudden resignation of the former Slovak minister Jan Kubis, a UN veteran in office for Libya since only January after a mandate as emissary in Lebanon, was transmitted on November 17 to Antonio Guterres. It had remained secret until its acceptance on November 23 by the Secretary General, without ever having been really explained by the UN.
According to diplomats, Jan Kubis refused since the summer to see his post transferred from Geneva to Tripoli as planned for 2022. Between him and Antonio Guterres, the relationship had reached a point of “breaking”, “they could no longer work together “, Judges one of them without being able to specify what was the trigger of a surprising decision a month before the Libyan presidential election.