The UN Security Council voted, on Thursday, to renew the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, UNSMI, for another 3 months.

The UN Security Council, however, have so far failed to name a UN envoy to replace, Jan Kubis, who resigned from his position last September.

This is the fourth time running that the Security Council extends UNSMIL mandate, without naming the UN envoy to lead the mission, amid great disagreement in previous sessions between Security Council member states, especially the USA and Russia, over the continued leadership of UNSMIL by UN advisor Stephanie Williams.

The Slovakian, Jan Kubis had announced his resignation as head of UNSMIL, and UN envoy to Libya in early December, as the election date was approaching in Libya, but with no prospect that it would go ahead.

Ever since, the UN Security Council has failed to reach a consensus on naming a successor to Kubis, prompting the UN Secretary-General to appoint the American Stephanie Williams as his special advisor on Libyan affairs, a move that was met with strong opposition from a number of countries.