Libya finally has a new UN special envoy, more than ten months after the resignation of the Slovak Jan Kubiš. António Guterres appointed, on the night of Friday to this Saturday, September 3, the Senegalese diplomat, Abdoulaye Bathily. The Secretary General of the United Nations has somewhat forced the hand of one of the Libyan parties who had initially rejected him, a few weeks ago, in this country where two governments are vying for power.
Abdoulaye Bathily had been approached for this position since the beginning of August. A first attempt at appointment to this mandate had collapsed on August 15, despite the endorsement of all the members of the UN Security Council. This first had then come up against opposition from the Tripoli government, which did not want to hear about it.
Since then, the UN secretary general has spoken with the government led by Abdelhamid Dbeibah, according to a UN source. Did he convince him or did he force it? Nobody knows at the moment.
Still, António Guterres formalized last night the appointment of the Senegalese diplomat as special envoy for Libya and, according to a specialist in Libya, there was urgency. Several candidacy proposals had been rejected by the Security Council since the sudden resignation of his predecessor, the Slovak Jan Kubiš, last November, while new violence has shaken Tripoli since July.
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At 75, Abdoulaye Bathily, the eighth UN special representative and the first African to occupy this very delicate position since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, will have a lot to do.
” Its main mission will be to organize a dialogue between the rival Libyan governments with the ultimate objective of organizing consensual elections. “, according to our UN source.
But there are hardly any illusions. ” Difficulties will come from everywhere, from internal and external actors added our source.