UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Slovak diplomat Ján Kubiš as his new Special Envoy to Libya after the Security Council approved his nomination, UN Secretary-General's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a briefing.
"The Secretary-General has appointed Ján Kubiš of Slovakia as his Special Envoy to Libya," he said. Dujarric specified that Kubiš "will take up his duties in early February".
Kubiš is a graduate of international economic relations at MGIMO. He served as Slovakia's Foreign Minister from 2006 to 2009. From 2012, he led the UN mission in Afghanistan, then was appointed representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq, and since January 2019, he has been Special Coordinator in Lebanon.
The post of UN representative in Libya remained vacant for more than 10 months after Ghassan Salame resigned. In December, the former UN Special Coordinator for the Palestinian-Israeli Settlement, Nikolay Mladenov, was almost approved for it, but at the last minute he refused, referring to "family reasons".
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Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS