US Special Envoy to Libya exchanges views with Denis Sassou Nguesso on Libyan crisis
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Special Envoy and Ambassador of the United States to Libya, Richard Norland, met on Thursday in Brazzaville with Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso on the Libyan crisis.
The meeting confirmed the growing commitment of the United States to coordinate with the African Union (AU) in the search for a solution in this North African country.
"The United States recognizes the leadership of President Sassou and his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Libya," the US embassy in Libya tweeted on Friday.
"Thanks to the US/Congo partnership, the US Special Envoy for Libya, Richard B. Norland, has exchanged with President Sassou on this topic of common interest," the US embassy said.
Congolese President Nguesso chairs the African Union High Level Committee on Libya, a mechanism bringing together six AU member countries to seek a solution to the Libyan crisis through the reconciliation of views between the Libyan protagonists.
It should be noted that the Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Claude Gakosso, who chairs the African Union's High Level Committee on Libya, toured Libya in early June, where he visited Tripoli and Benghazi (East), meeting with the country's main officials to present an AU plan for achieving national reconciliation.
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Wahida Ayari, recalled that the African Union High Level Committee on Libya intended to hold an inclusive conference for comprehensive national reconciliation, indicating that Libyans will determine its agenda as a Libyan conference under African auspices.
Ms Ayari suggested that the conference will be a complementary path if the current path fails, explaining that the Union is focusing on national reconciliation and support for the existing political path adopted by the international community in Berlin 1.
It should be noted that the US Special Envoy and Ambassador to Libya, Norland, discussed last Wednesday with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki, efforts to appoint a new UN Secretary General's Special Envoy to Libya.
The UN Security Council has failed since the resignation last November of the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy to Libya, Slovak Jan Kubis, to agree on a personality to take over, prompting UN chief Antonio Guterres to bypass this obstacle by appointing US diplomat Stephanie Williams as special adviser.
Last Monday, the US ambassador to the African Union (AU), Jesse Lapenn, and the US special envoy and ambassador to Libya, Norland, met with their counterparts from AU member states, including Algerian ambassador El-Hamdi Salah, Chadian ambassador Hassan and representatives of African countries currently on the UN Security Council.
The UN Security Council will hold two sessions this month on Libya, the first of which will take place on 25 July, to hear the briefing of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), while the second session will take place on 28 July.
These two public sessions on Libya come at a time when the technical mandate of the UN mission and the mandate of the IRINI operation to monitor the arms embargo on Libya will come to an end at the end of July.
The appointment of a new Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General to Libya will also be among the topics of the upcoming sessions on Libya.
-0- PANA BY/IS/BBA/RA 15July2022
