Are we heading for a new failure of the international community in Libya? The UN envoy for Libya, Jan Kubis, resigned on Tuesday.
One month to the day of the Libyan presidential election scheduled for December 24, 2021, it is a real coup: the envoy of the United Nations (UN) for Libya, the Slovak Jan Kubis, has resigned from office. Officially, no reason has been put forward by the various parties. But while the election calendar seems to be a vital issue for the international community, and particularly for the UN, this departure is seen as an upheaval by observers.
An upheaval, but not a surprise for all that. "He had nothing to do there," recalls a specialist in Libya who recalls the parachuting of the Slovak to a post whose chair had been empty for a very long time. Appointed last January, Jan Kubis replaced the Lebanese Ghassan Salamé, who had resigned ten months earlier.
Morocco, the Emirates and the United States not innocent
If the resignation of Kubis looks like the conclusion of a bad vaudeville, his appointment had rather been a sketch: while the former Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs - back today in his post - Ramtane Lamamra was the natural candidate in as UN envoy, António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, had yielded to the veto of the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco - the head of the Cherifian diplomacy, Nasser Bourita, had indicated: "No Berlin solution to a North African problem! ". The UN Security Council then opted for the Bulgarian Nickolay Mladenov, who had refused the post, before choosing, therefore, Jan Kubis.
The Slovak has never been unanimous. Libyan sources also accuse Jan Kubis of having "put pressure, with the help of the European Union, on the Libyan parliament to promulgate the electoral law". Since then, the divisions have shown how the election scheduled for December is hanging by a thread. "Jan Kubis watched, helplessly, the divisions that his actions created", continues a Libyan journalist, on condition of anonymity.
Another important episode in the Slovakian's resignation: the candidacy of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, which surprised everyone, Kubis included. "With so many new factions taking place for the upcoming 'electoral conflict', Jan Kubis simply does not want to shoulder the repercussions", continues our interlocutor on the spot. All observers are in fact unanimous in saying that, if elections are held on December 24, the next day, violence will take place throughout Libyan territory.
And now ?
Overwhelmed by events, the now ex-UN envoy will therefore observe things from afar. And the failure of Jan Kubis seems to be, more generally, the failure of the United Nations: "The successive resignations of the UN special envoys in Libya and the difficulty in finding the ideal interlocutor show the ineffectiveness of the UN. . Jan Kubis simply did not want to know the same fall as Ghassan Salamé, whose efforts were insufficient to reconcile Haftar and Tripoli ”, concludes a specialist before criticizing Kubis who“ thought to be the lever of peace in Libya, between the salons of leaders, luxury hotels and international summits ”.
Today, the Slovak must face the facts: the war which threatens Libya will be harmful to everyone. However, if the UN failed, it was Jan Kubic's career that risked faltering. It remains to be seen how the United Nations will react. “The Secretary General is working on a suitable replacement. We are fully aware of the electoral calendar and are working as quickly as possible to ensure continuity in leadership, ”says the UN.