Abdoulaye Bathily

The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has officially appointed the Senegalese diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily as his special representative to Libya and head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

The United Nations website stated that Bathily worked in 2021 as an independent expert for the strategic review of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, and also worked as a Special Representative for Central Africa and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa in Gabon (2014-2016).

The new envoy was also previously appointed in 2018 as a Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Madagascar, and in 2019 he was appointed as an independent expert for the strategic review of the United Nations Office for West Africa.

According to the website, Bathily has experience spanning over 40 years with his national government, regional organizations and the United Nations.

The position of the UN envoy to Libya has remained vacant for about 9 months, due to the failure of Security Council member states to agree on a number of candidates, to eventually come to an agreement to appoint Bathily despite objections from the Government of National Unity.