The United Nations (UN) Secretary General, António Guterres, announced Friday the appointment of Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of Ghana as his Special Representative for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
This announcement came after Russia had withdrawn its objection to the appointment of Tetteh as Head of UNSMIL, as Moscow previously submitted to the United Nations an objection regarding Tetteh’s appointment mechanism, according to diplomatic sources speaking to Libya Al-Ahrar TV.
Tetteh succeeds Abdoulaye Bathily of Senegal, who served as Special Envoy and Head of UNSMIL until May 2024.
UNSMIL said that: “The Secretary-General is grateful for his leadership, as well as to Deputy Special Representative, Stephanie Koury, who led the Mission in the interim period as Officer-in-Charge.”
Tetteh was appointed a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa from 2022 until 2024. Prior to this, she was the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) from 2018 to 2020, having earlier served as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi.
