UN special adviser for Libya vows to help achieve peace, stability in country

ANKARA

The special adviser for Libya to the UN secretary general pledged Thursday to help bring peace and stability to the country.

"I am very happy to be back in this dear country and I hope to be able to contribute to helping the Libyans to consolidate ways of stability, consolidation of peace and progress towards a bright future," Stephanie Williams said on Twitter.

She also thanked UN chief Antonio Guterres "for the confidence he has placed" in her as his special adviser on Libya.

Before her assignment to the post, the US diplomat served as an acting UN special envoy for Libya.

Slovak diplomat Jan Kubis, the previous UN special envoy for Libya, resigned from his post on Nov. 23.

Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Libya’s presidential and parliamentary elections are set for Dec. 24 under a UN-sponsored agreement reached by Libyan political rivals during meetings in Tunisia in November 2020.

Libyans hope that the coming elections will contribute to ending an armed conflict that has plagued the oil-rich country for years.