UN chief appoints US diplomat as special advisor on Libya

American diplomat Stephanie Williams was appointed Monday as the UN secretary-general’s special advisor on Libya, after the sudden resignation of the current envoy Jan Kubis one month ahead of a critical presidential election. An Arabic-speaker, Williams served in 2020 as acting director of the UN’s Geneva-based Libya mission, after being its deputy director from 2018-2020. In her new role, she will reside in Tripoli, Libya. Her nomination by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as “special advisor” instead of “envoy” sidesteps the 15 member Security Council, and avoids an embarrassing vacancy b…

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