Lana Nusseibeh to leave post as UAE ambassador to United Nations

Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE's ambassador to the UN, is leaving her post, the country's mission to the world body said on Friday.

Ms Nusseibeh had met UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in her capacity as the UAE ambassador for the last time, the mission said.

“During her tenure, ambassador Nusseibeh and the SG worked closely on a range of UAE foreign policy priorities, including the urgent need to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, advancing the role of women and girls in Afghanistan, driving climate action, and promoting tolerance, peace and coexistence around the world,” the mission said in a post on X.

“The UAE looks forward to continued co-operation at the UN to promote multilateral and cross-regional dialogue to advance international peace, security and development worldwide.”

Malta's UN ambassador Vanessa Frazier expressed her gratitude to Ms Nusseibeh for their collaborative accomplishments at the UN, praising her for her leadership, strength, intelligence, humour, and friendship.

"You will be missed. Best wishes for your future challenges," said Ms Frazier on the social media platform X.

Ms Nusseibeh, who also serves as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation for Political Affairs, headed the UAE's UN delegation during its two-year term on the Security Council.

When the UAE took its place on the council in January 2022, the body was navigating an increasingly complex international landscape.

In the two years since, Russia has invaded Ukraine, the US pulled out of Afghanistan, the conflict in Yemen is rumbling along at various levels of intensity, Sudan is in a civil war and the Israel-Gaza war is raging.

“We came in with a number of files, whether it's women's empowerment, climate change, humanitarian aid, peace and security, global counterterrorism files – we take very much a leadership position on helping shape that learning conversation and addressing those challenges,” Ms Nusseibeh told an event in Abu Dhabi early last year.

Most recently, Ms Nusseibeh spoke before the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel, urging the world to protect the rights of Palestinians and push for a two-state solution to the conflict.

“The UAE strongly believes that the only path to that just and lasting peace is through the fulfilment of the long-denied right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, with an independent and sovereign Palestine based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side-by-side with Israel,” she said.