The United Nations announced that the veteran American diplomat, Stephanie Williams, will leave her position on Sunday as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Libya.
She will leave her post amid renewed tensions in the North African country that is divided between rival administrations in the east and west and questions about her successor.
In her last statement, Williams spoke of her relationship with the political figures in Libya, stressing that she warned everyone after the elections were postponed in 2021 that the political class is looking for powerful posts rather than leading Libya toward elections.
She described Libyan politicians as “opportunistic and pursuing their own interests.”
She added in an interview with al-Hadath television on Saturday that the recent protests in the country were a reaction to the politicians’ inability to reach consensus on a constitutional framework for elections because some people “hijacked Libya’s political future.”
“We are trying, as soon as we can, to have at least an interim person named to do the sort of task that Williams was doing, but I don’t have anyone to name for you then,” Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General Farhan Haq told reporters in a press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York on Saturday.
Head of Libya’s Renewal Party Suleiman al-Bayoudi expected the UN Secretary-General to announce Williams’ successor soon, noting that he “enjoys the support of major countries, which have accepted his nomination in principle.”
He pointed out that the new envoy’s plan will focus on holding elections, adding that his appointment may coincide with a limited surge in violence.
On Thursday, the UN Security Council voted to extend the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for three months, amid local and international condemnation of this short period and its impact on the extent to which the mission could fulfill its tasks.
The UNSMIL is functioning, Haq stressed, noting that the officer in charge of that mission is the same as it has been, which is Raisedon Zenenga, and so he will continue to be the officer in charge until someone else is named.
On whether UN chief Antonio Guterres has any comments about Williams, Haq said: “She’s been doing an amazing job. In fact, we at the UN were hoping that we could continue to extend her time longer than the end of July, but as it turns out, she does have other commitments.”
“We are going to continue to look for a successor and to build on her accomplishments, and you’re well aware of the tremendous amount of work she did to make sure that Libya would have unified institutions and that its bodies would work together.”
“There continue to be hiccups in that effort,” he noted.
Williams worked in Libya for about four and a half years during which she was appointed to represent Guterres as his Deputy Special Representative for political affairs in the UNSMIL, succeeding Ghassan Salame.
