UN chief appoint new envoy to Libya

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, on Saturday has appointed the Palestinian diplomat Salam Fayyad as the new UN special envoy to Libya and the Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya.

The United States, however, objected to the choice of Fayyad, saying that the United States was "disappointed to see a letter indicating the intention to appoint the former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister to lead the UN Mission in Libya."

"For too long the UN has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel," Haley said Friday.

The U.S. objection to the appointment was condemned by the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. According to the organization member Hanan Ashrawi, the U.S. objection was "unconscionable."

"We hope that saner voices will prevail and that the U.S. will take back this irrational and discriminatory decision immediately and not deprive the UN of such a highly qualified individual," Ashrawi said in a statement.

Fayyad, 64, was a prime minister of the Palestinian authority from 2007 until 2013. He is also a former finance minister.

Fayyad was appointed to replace the German diplomat Martin Kobler, who has served as the UN special envoy to Libya and the Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya since November 2015.

Kobler sponsored peace dialogue sessions between Libya's political rivals for over a year in order to end the state of political division in the country. Eventually, a peace agreement was signed by the rivals and a new government of national accord was appointed. However, the country still suffers political crisis despite the signed agreement.

Source: Xinhua