The UN General Assembly has postponed voting on requests by Myanmar’s military junta, Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, and Libya’s rival eastern-based government to take their country’s seats at the United Nations.
As a result of the decision, Taher El-Sonni, the Libyan Ambassador, who represents the government based in Tripoli, will continue to serve in that capacity.
Guyana’s UN Ambassador, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett who chairs the credentials committee, introduced its report before the vote. She cited rival communications from Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Libya seeking to represent their countries.
“The committee decided to postpone its consideration of the credentials pertaining to the representatives of Myanmar, Afghanistan, and of Libya to a future time in the current 77th session of the General Assembly, which ends next September,” she said.
Notably, Arab League Assistant Secretary-General, Hossam Zaki expressed his hope for reaching a unified Arab agreement on Libya, claiming that “no organized Arab effort has yet been reached over the Libyan crisis.”
Zaki said in televised statements on Saturday, that “the failure of Arab countries in reaching a complete understanding of the situation in Libya has impeded the Arab League’s Secretary-General from obtaining a full Arab mandate to lead efforts to resolve the crisis.”
He added that “some Arab countries have special interests in Libya, resulting in the Arab League failing to obtain full Arab authorization from member states to reach solutions to the decade-long crisis in Libya.” As well as affirming support for all efforts aimed at settling the Libyan crisis, and urging the Libyan parties to agree on holding Presidential and Parliamentary elections as soon as possible.
Oil-rich Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammer Gaddafi in 2011. In the chaos that followed, the county split, with the rival administrations backed by rogue militias and foreign governments. The country’s current political crisis stems from the failure to hold elections on 24 December 2021.
The country’s Prime Minister, Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba who is leading a transitional government in Tripoli has refused to step down. The country’s eastern-based Parliament appointed a rival prime minister who sought the U.N. seat.