UN renews Libya mission for just three months as date set to replace PM

The issue of top UN representative to the North African country arose after Jan Kubis resigned in November

Libya's parliament says it will meet next week to pick Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah's successor. AP

The UN Security Council voted on Monday to extend its political mission in Libya by three months after a dispute between the West and Russia over the appointment of a new top envoy for the North African country, which is trying to form a united government after 10 years of turmoil.

A vote last week on a US-backed, British-drafted resolution to extend the UN mission until September 15 had been postponed at the last minute after Russia objected and circulated its own draft resolution calling for Secretary General Antonio Guterres to appoint a new special representative in a month.

The text of the resolution contains no mention of the council's hopes that presidential and legislative elections will be held soon in Libya.

Initially scheduled for December 24, the presidential election was supposed to have put an end to more than 10 years of chaos and conflict. However, it has been postponed indefinitely.

The council also eliminated Russia’s call for a one-month deadline for the UN chief to appoint a new representative, saying only that it “recognises the secretary general’s responsibility to appoint a special envoy”.

Moscow, which favoured a short renewal of the UN Support Mission in Libya, threatened to use its veto and even went as far as proposing a counter-draft to the British text last week to stress the need for Mr Guterres to appoint, “without further delay”, a new envoy for Libya.

The issue of the UN's top representative in Libya arose after UN special representative Jan Kubis, who was based in Geneva rather than Tripoli and reportedly had close ties to Moscow, resigned suddenly in November.

Mr Guterres then appointed American diplomat Stephanie Williams, who oversaw the October 2020 ceasefire agreement in Libya, as his special adviser, which did not require Security Council approval.

Parliament sets date to replace PM

Meanwhile, Libya's parliament announced on Monday that it would meet next week to pick a replacement for interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, potentially escalating tension between the country's eastern and western factions.

The announcement, which came a month after planned elections were abandoned amid bitter arguments over their legal basis, once again lays bare the extent of divisions between eastern and western factions in the war-torn country.

Spokesman Abdallah Bliheq said the assembly, based in the country's east, was ready to start examining applications for the role, and that candidates would face hearings in the house on February 7.

A session will take place the following day to select the winner, he said.

Diplomats said the US considered Russia’s attempt to convince the secretary general to quickly appoint a new special representative as an effort to do away with Ms Williams, whose work was highly praised last week by UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Britain’s deputy UN ambassador James Kariuki said the resolution that was adopted on Monday was “disappointing”.

He said that “Libya is at a fragile juncture” and “the UN’s role in supporting an inclusive political process in Libya is more important than ever”.

US deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis called it “a suboptimal outcome for the Libyan people and a poor reflection on the council”.

Speaking after the vote, Russia's deputy UN ambassador Anna Evstignyeva said she hoped the appointment of a new emissary to head the UN Libya mission “will make it possible to fully relaunch” the project.