Pod Save America Hosts Call on Democrats to Cut All Israel Military Aid, No Longer Accept AIPAC Funding
Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action
‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference
‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader
Sen. Angus King Vows to No Longer Vote for Israel Military Aid Until Gaza Conditions Improve
Europe Won’t Pressure Israel to ‘Commit Suicide’ Amid Gaza Backlash, Palestinian State Push, Says Israeli FM
Israel’s National Soccer Coach Attacked in Athens Before Soccer Fans Chant ‘F–K Israel, Free Palestine’ at Match
New York Judge Sentences Neo-Nazi to 5 Years for Livestreaming Bomb Threats Against Jewish Hospitals
US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue
UK Plans to Recognize Palestinian State in September Unless Israel Meets Conditions, Starmer Says
UN Chief Guterres Tries Again to Appoint a Libya Mediator
Error: Contact form not found.
by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff
Jan Kubis, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), speaks during a news conference in Kabul, March 27, 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Omar Sobhani/File Photo.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plans to appoint veteran diplomat Jan Kubis as his envoy in Libya nearly a year after the last mediator stepped down, according to a letter to the UN Security Council seen by Reuters on Thursday.
If there are no objections by any of the 15-member council by Friday evening, Kubis will succeed Ghassan Salame, who quit the role in March last year due to stress. Salame’s deputy Stephanie Williams has been acting Libya envoy.
Kubis, a former Slovakian foreign minister, is currently the UN special coordinator for Lebanon. He has also served as the UN special envoy in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The planned appointment of Kubis comes after the Security Council approved in December a plan by Guterres’ to name Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov to the Libya role. But a week later Mladenov said he could not take up the position due to “personal and family reasons.”
That followed months of disagreement in the Security Council over a UN push to split the role to have one person run the UN political mission and a special envoy to focus on mediation. The council eventually agreed to that proposal in September.
The proposed appointment of Mladenov — who was then the UN Middle East envoy — was delayed, said diplomats, because some council members wanted Guterres to first name who would succeed Mladenov as mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.
In December the council approved Norwegian Tor Wennesland to replace Mladenov.
Libya descended into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. In October, the two major sides in the country’s war – the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) – agreed a ceasefire.
Haftar is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, while the government is backed by Turkey.
