UN chief appoints Hanna Serwaa Tetteh as special representative for Libya

WASHINGTON

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday appointed Hanna Serwaa Tetteh as special representative for Libya and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Tetteh will succeed Abdoulaye Bathily, who served in the role until May 2024.

"Ms. Tetteh brings to this position decades of experience at the national, regional and international levels including most recently as the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa from 2022 until 2024," UN said in a statement.

Tetteh was Guterres' special representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) from 2018 to 2020.

Before joining the UN, Tetteh was served as Ghana's Foreign Minister from 2013 to 2017.

Libya has remained in turmoil since 2011, when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted after four decades in power.

The country is currently governed by two rival administrations: the UN-recognized Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh in Tripoli, which controls the western part of the country, and the government of Osama Hammad, appointed by the parliament, which operates out of Benghazi and governs the eastern region and parts of the south.

Efforts led by the UN to hold parliamentary and presidential elections have repeatedly stalled, prolonging the country’s political deadlock and exacerbating the security situation in the oil-rich nation.