The UN Security Council voted on Monday to extend its political mission in Libya by three months after a dispute between the West and Russia over the appointment of a new top envoy for the North African country, which is trying to form a united government after 10 years of turmoil.
A vote last week on a US-backed, British-drafted resolution to extend the UN mission until September 15 had been postponed at the last minute after Russia objected and circulated its own draft resolution calling for Secretary General Antonio Guterres to appoint a new special representative in a month.
The text of the resolution contains no mention of the council's hopes that presidential and legislative elections will be held soon in Libya.
Initially scheduled for December 24, the presidential election was supposed to have put an end to more than 10 years of chaos and conflict. However, it has been postponed indefinitely.
The council also eliminated Russia’s call for a one-month deadline for the UN chief to appoint a new representative, saying only that it “recognises the secretary general’s responsibility to appoint a special envoy”.
Moscow, which favoured a short renewal of the UN Support Mission in Libya, threatened to use its veto and even went as far as proposing a counter-draft to the British text last week to stress the need for Mr Guterres to appoint, “without further delay”, a new envoy for Libya.
The issue of the UN's top representative in Libya arose after UN special representative Jan Kubis, who was based in Geneva rather than Tripoli and reportedly had close ties to Moscow, resigned suddenly in November.
Mr Guterres then appointed American diplomat Stephanie Williams, who oversaw the October 2020 ceasefire agreement in Libya, as his special adviser, which did not require Security Council approval.
Parliament sets date to replace PM
Meanwhile, Libya's parliament announced on Monday that it would meet next week to pick a replacement for interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, potentially escalating tension between the country's eastern and western factions.
The announcement, which came a month after planned elections were abandoned amid bitter arguments over their legal basis, once again lays bare the extent of divisions between eastern and western factions in the war-torn country.
Spokesman Abdallah Bliheq said the assembly, based in the country's east, was ready to start examining applications for the role, and that candidates would face hearings in the house on February 7.
A session will take place the following day to select the winner, he said.
Diplomats said the US considered Russia’s attempt to convince the secretary general to quickly appoint a new special representative as an effort to do away with Ms Williams, whose work was highly praised last week by UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Britain’s deputy UN ambassador James Kariuki said the resolution that was adopted on Monday was “disappointing”.
He said that “Libya is at a fragile juncture” and “the UN’s role in supporting an inclusive political process in Libya is more important than ever”.
US deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis called it “a suboptimal outcome for the Libyan people and a poor reflection on the council”.
Speaking after the vote, Russia's deputy UN ambassador Anna Evstignyeva said she hoped the appointment of a new emissary to head the UN Libya mission “will make it possible to fully relaunch” the project.
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Abraham (2 og), Promes (20). Kepa (35 og), van de Beek (55)
FA CUP FINAL
Manchester City 6
(D Silva 26', Sterling 38', 81', 87', De Bruyne 61', Jesus 68')
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Man of the match: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
COMPANY PROFILE
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Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
'The Predator'
Dir: Shane Black
Starring: Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook, Keegan-Michael Key
Two and a half stars
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
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Paris Can Wait
Dir: Eleanor Coppola
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Diane Lane, Arnaud Viard
Two stars
Past winners of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
2016 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2015 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes-GP)
2014 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2013 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
2012 Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
2011 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2010 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
2009 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
