UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th February, 2021) Slovakia's former foreign minister Jan Kubis on Monday officially assumed the role of the UN Special Envoy for Libya and head of the UN Support Mission in that country (UNSMIL), the UN Office of the Spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
"As he assumed functions yesterday, the UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for Libya and Head of the UNSMIL, Jan Kubis continued his interactions with Libyan interlocutors, following his telephone calls with President of the Presidency Council Mr. Fayez Serraj and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Mohammed Siala the day before," the statement said on Tuesday.
Kubis also spoke over the phone with the President of the Presidency Council-designate Mohammad Younes Menfi and the Prime Minister-designate, Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah, on the roadmap to ensure the smooth transition of power to the new unified interim executive authority in Libya, according to the statement.
On Friday, the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) selected the country's new interim unity government that will be in charge until a national general election, scheduled for December 24.
Kubis stressed the UN's commitment to ensure a stable, prosperous, sovereign and unified Libya, building on the positive developments achieved over the past months by his predecessor, the outgoing Acting Special Envoy for Libya, Stephanie Williams.
Under Williams' leadership, who had been in charge since March, Libya's warring parties - the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) - signed a nationwide ceasefire agreement during the United Nations-facilitated commission talks in Geneva in October.
In early November, the warring sides agreed to launch the UN-led talks to find a political solution to the crisis. In mid-November, participants agreed on a road map to unify state power bodies in the country.
Libya has been torn by internal conflicts since 2011, when its longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and murdered. The North African country has been split between rival administrations for years, with the western part being controlled by the GNA and the eastern part by the LNA.
