UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st February, 2022) The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) until April 30. "The Security Council decides to extend until 30 April 2022 the mandate of the UNSMIL, as an integrated special political mission to carry out its mandate," the resolution said. In the fall of 2020, the UNSMIL brokered inclusive political consultations among Libyan political rivals, which resulted in the creation of the Joint Military Commission, a mechanism with an equal representation of rival forces brought together to negotiate a lasting peace deal. Libya de facto ceased to be a united country in 2011, when its leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and assassinated. Last March, a transition government was voted in at a UN-backed gathering of Libyan delegates in Geneva in the hope that it would lead the North African nation into a general election on December 24, but the polls were delayed after the eligibility of some of 98 candidates was questioned.

Source: Libya Today January 31, 2022 22:11 UTC