Libya: Vote on UNSMIL Mandate Renewal*
This afternoon (31 October), the Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution extending the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for another year, until 31 October 2026. The draft text in blue maintains UNSMIL’s core mandated tasks, as set out in resolution 2542 of 15 September 2020.
Background
The political impasse in Libya continues between the UN-recognised Government of National Unity (GNU), based in Tripoli and led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah, with advisory support from the High State Council (HSC), and the eastern-based Government of National Stability (GNS), led by Prime Minister Osama Hamad and backed by the House of Representatives (HoR) and the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) under the command of General Khalifa Haftar. The parties remain deadlocked over proposed legislation to hold national elections that would reconcile the country’s divided government. A key point of contention is over the formation of a unified interim government to organise the elections—a move favoured by the GNS and HoR but opposed by the GNU and some segments of the HSC. The prolonged stalemate between the rival governments has persisted since the indefinite postponement of the 2021 elections.
The current mandate was set in resolution 2755, which was adopted on 31 October 2024. It extended UNSMIL’s mandate for three months, with a “further automatic extension” of an additional nine months, on the condition that a new Special Representative and Head of UNSMIL be appointed by 31 January. On 24 January, the Secretary-General announced the appointment of Hanna Serwaa Tetteh as Special Representative for Libya and Head of UNSMIL, which triggered the automatic extension of UNSMIL’s mandate until 31 October per resolution 2755.
Resolution 2755 also requested a strategic review of UNSMIL, assessing its objectives and recommending ways to enhance the mission’s efficiency and effectiveness through prioritisation of tasks and resources, with a focus on supporting a sustainable political process and ensuring an effective presence across Libya within existing resources.
The Secretary-General submitted the strategic review to Council members on 30 September. The review states that UNSMIL’s core mandate is to support a political solution to the Libyan conflict. It therefore recommends streamlining all the mission’s workstreams to prioritise this task. It also emphasises the importance of the economic track to the country’s political transition and long-term stability and recommends strengthening this aspect of UNSMIL’s mandate. The review also stresses the importance of UNSMIL’s engagement on human rights and rule of law as integral parts of the political process. It advises in this regard that UNSMIL fully leverage the convening power of the UN by leading and providing secretariat support to the working groups of the Berlin Process, the UN-supported negotiation track that facilitated the 2020 ceasefire agreement. Another one of the review’s recommendations is to streamline the mission’s engagement on the security track from ceasefire implementation to confidence-building and reunification of military and security institutions.
In terms of operational configuration, the review recommends having a consistent presence of UNSMIL in eastern and southern Libya, as well as targeted expansions in Benghazi and Sabha. The review argues that this is essential for the mission to be perceived as representative and inclusive. The review acknowledges that expanding UNSMIL’s presence will require significant resources and recommends the mission to offset these costs through resource allocation, realigning staffing, and improving efficiency through cost-saving measures and external support services.
Finally, the Secretary-General recommended that the strategic review’s findings be incorporated into the next mandate of UNSMIL.
Negotiations on the Draft Resolution
While there is a general agreement among Council members on the need to renew UNSMIL’s mandate, deliberations on several issues, particularly on how to reflect recent developments, were apparently difficult. The UK, the penholder on Libya, circulated an initial draft of the text on 15 October and convened one round of negotiations on 17 October. It then circulated a revised draft for comments on 20 October. The second revised draft was placed under silence on 23 October. It seems that China, Russia, and the “A3 Plus” grouping (Algeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Guyana) broke silence on this draft, with several other members also submitting their comments. It appears that the US broke silence on the third revised draft that was put under silence on Tuesday (28 October). A day later, a fourth revised draft was placed under silence. After passing silence, the UK put the draft in blue yesterday (30 October).
The draft resolution in blue renews UNSMIL’s mandate for one year and mostly draws on language from the most recent mandate renewal in 2024. The draft text in blue incorporates specific recommendations from the strategic review, encouraging the mission to place support for a political solution at the core of its mandate; to streamline its workstreams to advance a political process; establish a consistent presence across Libya, including targeted expansion of the mission in Benghazi and Sabha; establish a dedicated economic section within UNSMIL; and assume a leading convening role in international engagement on Libya, specifically in relation to the Berlin Process. It also recognises that the mission’s engagement on human rights and rule of law remains vital for Libya’s political process.
It seems that Russia suggested the recommendation from the strategic review on the targeted expansion of the mission in Benghazi and Sabha. Some members apparently sought to clarify that any such expansion should be implemented within existing resources. This language was included in the draft resolution in blue.
Given that implementation of the strategic review recommendations might require additional financial resources, the draft sought to address this by asking the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the strategic review’s recommendations, including on mission efficiencies. It also requests UNSMIL to enhance efficiency and redeploy existing resources through prioritisation and reconfiguration of tasks, as appropriate.
In the initial draft text, the UK sought to incorporate language expressing concern about the fragile security environment, including the escalation of violence in the Tripoli region in May, underlining the importance of safeguarding security and stability across Libya, and welcoming the efforts of the Presidential Council to restore stability. It seems that some members—including China, Pakistan, and the A3 Plus—wanted to remove specific references to the escalation of violence in the Tripoli region that occurred in May. It appears that these members did not want to single out any specific region but to focus on the security situation in the country more broadly. The European members of the Council were apparently generally supportive of the penholder’s initially proposed language. In an attempt to find a compromise, the UK eventually removed explicit references to the Tripoli region as well as specific references welcoming efforts by the Presidential Council and the GNU in restoring stability, using instead the term “Libyan authorities”.
It appears that another issue during the negotiations was how to refer to a roadmap to lead Libya to national elections and unified institutions that was presented by Tetteh during the Council’s August briefing on Libya. The roadmap consists of three core pillars: adopting a viable electoral framework for presidential and legislative polls; unifying institutions under a new government; and launching a structured dialogue on governance, economic, security, and reconciliation issues to pave the way for these elections and address long-term conflict drivers.
The initial draft proposed by the penholder endorsed the roadmap and its three core pillars. It seems that several members—including China, Russia, and the A3 Plus—wanted to soften the language on this and use “welcomes” instead of “endorses”. Other members were apparently more flexible on this issue, while France wanted to retain a stronger reference. The draft resolution in blue only welcomes the roadmap and its three core pillars. It also welcomes the Special Representative’s commitment to conduct further consultations and provide further details on the roadmap. During the October Council briefing on Libya, Pakistan emphasised that it is crucial to establish clear benchmarks and timelines to measure results on the implementation of the roadmap. It seems that Pakistan wanted to include this language in the draft resolution as well, which was not accommodated. During the same briefing, Russia also emphasised the need for the UN’s mediation efforts to have a clear vision of the modalities, direction, and timeline.
In the initial draft, the UK included several references to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the preambular paragraphs of the text. The language used was the same as in resolution 2755 from 2024. During the negotiations, it appears that the US requested the removal of any references to gender and SGBV as a term and replace it with “sex-based violence”. However, it seems that the UK and several other members—including Denmark, France, Greece, Panama, Slovenia, and the Republic of Korea (ROK)—supported retaining references to SGBV.
It seems that the US broke silence on the third revised draft over the language on SGBV, as well as text on disinformation, climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To find a compromise, in the fourth revised draft, the UK omitted one reference to SGBV, replacing it with conflict-related sexual violence. This referred to a paragraph on expressing concern about the smuggling of migrants and refugees. The draft in blue retained the original language on the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda that included references to sexual and gender-based violence.
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**Post-script: On 31 October, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2796, extending the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for another year, until 31 October 2026.
