On Tuesday, the UN Security Council approved a proposal by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to name Nickolay Mladenov as his new special envoy to Libya. Mladenov will replace Ghassan Salame, who stepped down in March due to health reasons.
The Security Council also approved the appointment of Tor Wennesland, who is set to succeed Mladenov as the UN’s Middle East envoy.
The appointments end months of bickering among council members sparked by a US push to split the Libya role, with one person running the UN political mission, and another focused on conflict mediation. The Security Council agreed to the proposal in September, with Russia and China abstaining from the vote.
Libya descended into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. In October, the two parties in the country’s civil war – the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA), agreed to a ceasefire.