S/PV.9173 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. Members of the Council have before them document S/2022/803, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

The draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2656 (2022). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements.

During the last briefing on the situation in Libya on 24 October (S/PV.9162), we emphasized the need for the United Nations Support Mission in Libya to have a substantive one-year mandate. Kenya voted in favour of resolution 2656 (2022), which responds to that need. It provides the stability and predictability for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya to lead the Mission and steer international support to the peace process with greater certainty. It also demonstrates a welcomed unity of purpose by the Security Council. We thank the United Kingdom and fellow members of the Council for their constructive engagement in the negotiations. The Libya peace process is complex at a national level and made more so by the involvement of competing external interests. They all have their own perspectives, diagnosis and solutions. Combined, and regularly in competition, they undermine the peace and security of Libya. We therefore urge all international support to be channelled through that United Nations-led process. We also call on the people of Libya to make use of that framework of support for their collective benefit. Finally, we reaffirm our firm support for the people of Libya. We are committed to a truly Libyan-led and Libyan-owned peace process, built upon respect for Libya’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Brazil voted in favour of resolution 2656 (2022), which was just adopted. We are pleased with the decision to renew the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for a 12-month period, which we hope will permit the Mission’s newly appointed leadership to fully implement the recommendations of the independent strategic review. In particular, we highlight the importance of strengthening the strategic communications of UNSMIL. Enhanced communications can contribute to building, from the bottom up, an environment conducive to transparent and inclusive engagement between UNSMIL and Libyan stakeholders, including civil society. An enabling environment for active and responsible civic participation is of paramount importance, particularly in preparation for nationwide elections and Government unification and in the context of national reconciliation. The Security Council has considered those to be the short- and long-term objectives of the intra-Libyan political dialogue, necessary for peace and stability in Libya, to be facilitated by UNSMIL. Brazil also recalls that United Nations missions are not immune to criticism, which is why it is important to clearly communicate UNSMIL’s vision and strategy to the host country in order to bolster the implementation of the Mission’s advisory role on the political, economic and security tracks, in coordination with the relevant Libyan authorities. Brazil is pleased that, by adopting resolution 2656 (2022) today, the Security Council recognized that the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) can play an important role in support of peacebuilding and sustaining peace in Libya. We emphasize the Council’s encouragement, as enshrined in the fifth preambular paragraph of the resolution, of further international support and regional cooperation among Libya, its neighbouring countries and relevant United Nations bodies, including the PBC. Given the realization that political, development and security conditions in Libya are closely intertwined, it was only natural for the Security Council to remind Libyan stakeholders and international partners that the Peacebuilding Commission is a platform well-suited to convening all relevant actors within and outside the United Nations and mobilizing international attention towards Libya, upon the request of Libya. With the consent of the host country, the PBC can also help to promote an integrated, strategic and coherent approach to peacebuilding, including by sharing advice on peacebuilding needs and priorities. By adopting resolution 2656 (2022) — which in its seventh preambular paragraph reproduces language taken from resolution 2282 (2016) on the Peacebuilding Commission  — the Council also acknowledged, specifically for Libya, the importance of the very peacebuilding approach that PBC was designed to promote, with full respect for Libya’s sovereignty and its peacebuilding priorities. Finally, while Brazil is pleased with the outcome of the negotiations, as just indicated  — as well as the constructive engagement among all Council members, including the penholder, whom we would like to thank  — my delegation also observed that, throughout the negotiations, the concerns raised by some members were dismissed on account of their challenging previously agreed language. In that regard, we would like to raise our own concerns at the suggestion that, while negotiating new draft resolutions, Council members should not be able to advocate for positions that depart from previously agreed texts. Such a suggestion is troubling, particularly for elected members, because it would limit our ability to contribute fresh perspectives during our time-bound mandates. Moreover, such an approach would limit our ability to respond to evolving situations, besides ignoring the fact that every text ever adopted was itself once altogether new.

Ghana would like to thank the United Kingdom, as penholder, for its diligent and committed efforts in facilitating the negotiation of resolution 2656 (2022), just adopted. We thank all Security Council members for their flexibility in agreeing to a further one-year mandate, as advocated by the three African members of the Council during the previous mandate renewal. We note that the United Nations Support Mission in Libya finds itself at a critical point in the peace and political process in the country, but we are confident that the Mission will be able to deliver on its mandate if the Council is united in its support. For that reason, Ghana voted in favour of the resolution and calls for the maximum support of Council members to enable the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to successfully carry out his mandate. We also call for the cooperation of all political actors in Libya towards finding lasting peace in the country, with a democratic dispensation. In conclusion, we encourage the competent Libyan authorities to make all the necessary efforts to realize the aspirations of the Libyan people by holding presidential and parliamentary elections within the mandate cycle.

I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of Gabon. We of course voted in favour of resolution 2656 (2022), just adopted. We welcome the substantial renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya following several short-term extensions. As an African State and one of the three African members of the Security Council, we feel a sense of having contributed to an important milestone in the stabilization of a major African State. We thank all members of the Council, including the penholder, for their commitment to that cause. The Council has demonstrated its ability to meet expectations by overcoming divisions and grievances in order to offer the Libyan people the support they need to build a lasting peace. Achieving consensus on the Libyan question was essential in order to consolidate the hard-won gains on the file and address outstanding issues, including the reconciliation process, the holding of legislative and presidential elections and uniting the two Administrations, while taking into account the implications of the Libyan crisis for the region, in particular for the Sahel. Through our vote today, we send a clear message to the Libyan people that the United Nations stands with them. We also send a message to the Libyan authorities and all political stakeholders, who have an opportunity to create a dynamic of convergence that will lead to the restoration of stability and hope in Libya. We commend the work of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Abdoulaye Bathily, who has spared no effort since assuming that position to mobilize all Libyan political stakeholders, as well as civil society. We reaffirm our full support for and confidence in him. I now resume my functions as President of the Council. There are no more names inscribed on the list of speakers.