Security Council Adopts Change in Structure for UN Libya Mission

FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 26, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 26, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
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Security Council Adopts Change in Structure for UN Libya Mission

FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 26, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 26, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Tuesday under pressure from the United States endorsing a change in structure for its mission in Libya, which will in the future have a special envoy and a "coordinator."

Thirteen of the 15 Council members voted for the resolution, with Russia and China abstaining.

The new structure accompanies a one-year renewal for the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), decided after more than six months of squabbling.

It is now up to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint people for the new roles, AFP reported. The resolution states that "UNSMIL should be led by a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General... with a particular focus on good offices and mediation with Libyan and international actors to end the conflict."

Under the envoy's authority, "an UNSMIL Coordinator shall be in charge of UNSMIL's day-to-day operations and management."

UNSMIL has not had a special envoy since Ghassan Salame stepped down in March for health reasons, and bickering between the United States and its partners on how the role should be defined has stalled naming a successor.

The resolution requests that Guterres define within the next two months "steps required to reach a lasting ceasefire" and to simultaneously provide "proposals" for possible UN "monitoring."

Finally, the text calls for "full compliance" with the arms embargo.



Explosion in Syria's Idlib Kills Civilians, Al Ekhbariah TV Reports

File photo: Smoke plume billows following Syrian regime air strike on residential district of Maaret al-Numan in northwestern Idlib province last week. (AFP)
File photo: Smoke plume billows following Syrian regime air strike on residential district of Maaret al-Numan in northwestern Idlib province last week. (AFP)
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Explosion in Syria's Idlib Kills Civilians, Al Ekhbariah TV Reports

File photo: Smoke plume billows following Syrian regime air strike on residential district of Maaret al-Numan in northwestern Idlib province last week. (AFP)
File photo: Smoke plume billows following Syrian regime air strike on residential district of Maaret al-Numan in northwestern Idlib province last week. (AFP)

An explosion rocked the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Thursday, state-run Al Ekhbariya TV reported, and an unspecified number of people were killed or injured, the local emergency operations department said.

The cause of the blast was not immediately known, the TV report said.