Russia backs African candidate as UN special envoy for Libya — ambassador to UN

UNITED NATIONS, July 9. /TASS/. Russia does not see any objective reasons why the appointment of the UN envoy for Libya is dragged on and believes that the position should be given to an African representative, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said at the UN Security Council on Wednesday. "Regrettably, the situation is getting more complicated due to the resignation of Mr. [Ghassan] Salame," he said. "The office of the Secretary General’s representative for Libya has been vacant for already four months." According to Nebenzia, that fact is likely to "undermine the efforts aimed at seeking peace for Libya." "We believe that the authority and influence of the African Union make the choice of an African representative for the position of the mission’s head logical and practical," Nebenzia stressed. "We know that Africa nominated a strong candidate for this position. Therefore, we call on the Secretary General to take resolute steps to appoint the new special envoy for Libya and cannot see any objective reasons for the delay with his or her appointment." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier that Algeria’s foreign minister and Ghana’s former foreign minister had been nominated but the US refused to support them. Lavrov added that currently US citizen Stephanie Williams is the acting special envoy for Libya. He hoped that the United States would stop "holding down" the UN Secretariat, hindering the appointment of a special envoy counting on their fellow countrywoman to deal with some "unclear" issues. Read more