Libya's ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Taher El Sonni, said that there is a difficulty in appointing a special envoy to Libya due to the lack of consensus within the Security Council, adding in his media stakeout following a Security Council session that the Government of National Unity objected to the nomination of the Senegalese diplomat, Abdoulaye Bathily, for the position of the UN envoy, not because of his person, but because Libya, after 9 UN envoys, deserves a person with more capacity.

He also called for deep and serious consultations with Libyans regarding the new UN envoy to ensure that working with the UN mediator would be successful.

El Sonni indicated that Libya needs an international consensus in order to implement the agreed-upon solution of reaching parliamentary and presidential elections and to end the dispute over legitimacy, stressing that interventions in Libya had been a challenge since 2011 and the accumulation of those interventions made it difficult to establish a Libyan-led political process.

Diplomatic sources expect UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to announce Senegalese diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily as the new UN envoy and Head of UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Anadolu News Agency reported sources that asked to remain anonymous as saying that Guterres had already recommended the Senegalese diplomat to be the new head of UNSMIL in an official letter to the members of the UN Security Council, and he is awaiting their approval because the appointment of the heads of UN missions requires that none of the 15 member states of the Security Council voices objection.