The UNSMIL news release also expresses appreciation for the work of his predecessor Bernardino Leon: “… to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated and distinguished service.The leadership transition comes at a critical time for Libya. Mr. Kobler is committed to ensuring continuity of United Nations facilitation of the Libyan dialogue process, building on what Libyan parties have achieved to date.”
The release says nothing about the charges of conflict of interest brought against Leon or whether he will still accept the high-paying job offered by the UAE, a strong supporter of the internationally-recognized House of Representatives(HoR) government and the commander of their armed forces Khalifa Haftar.
Leon was supposed to be an impartial mediator in dialogue talks with the rival General National Congress(GNC) based in Tripoli. He managed to finally produce a Libya Political Agreement(LPA) but neither parliament has approved the document and both parties have voiced disagreement with the text and the associated Government of National Accord(GNA). The UN Security Council nevertheless urged passage of the document even after the scandal about Leon’s conflicts of interest arose. The UN has continued to defend Leon and claim there was no problem, even though their own conflict of interest guidelines were breached.
While the UN has never issued a specific news release refuting the charges against Leon, it allowed him to ramble on about asking the UAE to explain reports that they had sent arms to Libya in violation of UN resolutions,and also. as noted in the appended photo, Leon cautioned everyone about what he called in his statement inaccurate and false information. He did not ever say precisely what specific reports and information were false. Reuters mistakenly thought his release was about the UN as part of his work, and mistakenly concluded that the UN was asking the UAE to explain the situation. Leon’s statement came from the UNSMIL news site. Later a UN spokesperson explained it was not about the UN but about whether he would take his job with the UAE, and the statement had nothing to do with his UN work.
It is not surprising that an article should now appear with the title “Liberate Libya from the UN.” The article goes through all the evidence of Leon’s bias and the UN toleration of continued attempts to favour the HoR over the GNC. The author, Jason Pack, a researcher at Cambridge University, even adds some new evidence about specific Libyans in the UAE who helped out in guiding Leon: In the case of Libya, the UAE/Egypt/HoR grouping has not been led by the Egyptians or Emiratis or even the HoR’s foreign minister, but rather by an influential and well-connected cabal of Libyans based in the Emirates. Mahmoud Gibril – a US-educated former Libyan PM and virulent anti-Muslim Brotherhood politician – and Aref Nayed – a Sufi Scholar, businessman, and Libyan Ambassador to the UAE – have been playing Leon, their Emirati hosts, and the international community as dupes.
The pro-HoR Libya Herald obligingly provides a platform for Nayed to express his views. Further evidence against Leon is added in an article in the Libya Herald. Abubakr Buera was a member of the HoR negotiating team. He accuses Leon of dishonesty and of damaging the work of the dialogue he was heading. He thinks it would be disastrous for the HoR to vote on the LPA at present as Leon, UNSMIL, and the Security Council demand. He thinks that if the LPA were passed that the country would break up into an eastern part, historically called Cyrenaica, and a western part run from Tripoli. He need not worry. The president of the HoR, Salah Gwaider, has flown off to Paris to a UNESCO meeting. The HoR will be unable to meet to pass judgement on the LPA. By the time he returns, Martin Kober will be in charge. He may have enough sense not to press the parties further to sign on to the present LPA but may attempt to renew dialogue talks instead. As well as Kobler, another new member will be added to the dialogue staff: Lieutenant-General Paolo Serra of Italy has joined UNSMIL as Senior Advisor to the SRSG on security sector matters relating to the dialogue process. Lieutenant-General Serra has an extensive and distinguished military career and broad experience in multinational peace operations. From 2012 to 2014, he served as Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
After the Leon debacle, Kobler will need a great deal of diplomatic skill to restore confidence in the UN and the mediation process designed to gain agreement on a GNA.
