Senegalese former minister to be appointed UN envoy to Libya

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced his plan to appoint a former Senegalese minister to lead U.N. efforts to broker peace in Libya, Reuters agency reported on Thursday.

The 15-member U.N. Security Council needs to agree by consensus to the appointment of Abdoulaye Bathily as the U.N. special envoy for Libya.

If there are no objections, then Mr Bathily’s appointment will be approved on Friday evening.

He would replace Jan Kubis, who stepped down in December. Mr Guterres had informally proposed two other people to fill the role, but the Security Council could not agree.

Libya has had little peace since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi, splitting the nation in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions and dragging in regional powers. Libyan oil output, a prize for the warring groups, has repeatedly been shut off.