Guterres Appoints New Representative for Libya

Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of Ghana, the new envoy to Libya (UN)
Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of Ghana, the new envoy to Libya (UN)
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Guterres Appoints New Representative for Libya

Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of Ghana, the new envoy to Libya (UN)
Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of Ghana, the new envoy to Libya (UN)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Friday the appointment of Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of Ghana as the global body's new envoy to Libya, replacing Senegal's Abdoulaye Bathily who stepped down last April.

Before joining the United Nations, Tetteh was a senior member of the cabinet of the Government of Ghana as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2017, and member of the National Security Council and the Armed Forces Council. She also served as Minister for Trade and Industry from 2009 to 2013.

Tetteh, who has been Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's special representative to the Horn of Africa for the past two years, is the 10th person since 2011 to occupy the sensitive post of special envoy and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Tetteh's appointment requires endorsement by the UN Security Council, according to AFP.

The post, in a North African country riven by conflict and civil war for over a decade, had been vacant since the surprise departure last April of Bathily.

At the time the Senegalese diplomat warned of a “lack of political will and good faith” by Libyan leaders and said the United Nations could not “operate successfully” in such a climate.

Libya has been mired in political chaos and conflict since the overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

 



Watchdog Says Israel Is Advancing Plans for Nearly 1,000 More Settler Homes in West Bank 

A picture taken from the outskirts of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, shows construction cranes at Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem on February 7, 2025. (AFP)
A picture taken from the outskirts of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, shows construction cranes at Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem on February 7, 2025. (AFP)
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Watchdog Says Israel Is Advancing Plans for Nearly 1,000 More Settler Homes in West Bank 

A picture taken from the outskirts of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, shows construction cranes at Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem on February 7, 2025. (AFP)
A picture taken from the outskirts of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, shows construction cranes at Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem on February 7, 2025. (AFP)

Israel issued a tender for the construction of nearly 1,000 additional settler homes in the occupied West Bank, an anti-settlement watchdog said Monday.

Peace Now says the development of 974 new housing units would allow the population of the Efrat settlement to expand by 40% and further block the development of the nearby Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Hagit Ofran, who leads the group's settlement monitoring, said construction can begin after the contracting process and issuing of permits, which could take another year at least.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state and view the settlements as a major obstacle to peace, a position with wide international support.

President Donald Trump lent unprecedented support to the settlements during his previous term. Israel has also steadily expanded settlements during Democratic administrations, which were more critical but rarely took any action to curb them.

Israel has built well over 100 settlements across the West Bank, ranging from hilltop outposts to fully-developed communities that resemble small towns and suburbs, with apartment blocks, malls and parks.

Over 500,000 settlers live in the occupied West Bank, which is home to some 3 million Palestinians. The settlers have Israeli citizenship, while Palestinians live under military rule with the Palestinian Authority administering population centers.

Major human rights groups have described the situation as apartheid, allegations rejected by the Israeli government, which views the West Bank as the historical and biblical heartland of the Jewish people and is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Peace Now, which favors a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of pressing ahead with settlement construction while dozens of hostages captured in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack languish in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

“While the people of Israel (set) their sights on the release of the hostages and an end to the war, the Netanyahu government is operating ‘on steroids’ to establish facts on the ground that will destroy the chance for peace and compromise,” it said in a statement.