The American “Foreign Policy” magazine reported that Russia prevented the appointment of the British expert, “Nicolas Kay”, as the UN envoy to Libya, to succeed the former envoy, “Jan Kubis”.
The magazine said, on Wednesday, that this step comes less than a week after the resignation of “Kubis” after the end of his term, he resigned abruptly after a clash with United Nations President “Antonio Guterres” over the United Nations’ handling of preparations before the elections, and after tensions between Britain and Russia.
Foreign Policy added that this step also comes in the wake of the ongoing tensions between Britain and Russia, which previously prevented the renewal of the appointments of many United Nations sanctions experts, on the pretext of the spread of holders of English citizenship in influential job positions in the United Nations.
The magazine noted that Guterres had hoped to move quickly to fill the position ahead of the Libyan elections; Guterres is seeking the possibility of appointing the former acting envoy to Libya, Stephanie Williams, on a temporary basis, thus avoiding any controversial vote in the UN Security Council.
The magazine quoted some diplomats as saying that this step is unlikely to succeed, because it would provoke Moscow, which previously blocked Guterres’ plan to make “Williams” his special representative in Libya, and objected to his emergency plan to extend her mandate as acting head of the mission, as Russia also banned in 2017, the appointment of German-American citizen Richard Wilcox.
It is worth noting that, late last month, the UN envoy to Libya, Jan Kubis, submitted his sudden resignation from his position, in which he took over the management of the mission since last March, succeeding the American “Williams”.
