New Permanent Representative of Libya Presents Credentials

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

The new Permanent Representative of Libya to the United Nations, Taher M. El-Sonni, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Until his latest appointment, Mr. El-Sonni was the Senior Political Adviser to the President of the Presidential Council of Libya’s Government of National Accord beginning in 2016.

Mr. El-Sonni was Political Adviser to the House of Representatives and a negotiating member during the Libyan Political Dialogue in 2015, having served as Minister Plenipotentiary and Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs for diplomatic affairs and international relations in 2014.

Before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr. El-Sonni had 22 years of diplomatic, political and managerial experience at the United Nations, the European Union and the League of Arab States.  In 2012, he was the project manager of a joint United Nations-European Union effort to establish the Arab League’s first crisis management centre.

In 2011, Mr. El-Sonni was a member of the assessment team for the establishment of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), for the mission assessing that country’s post-conflict needs and for the United Nations Electoral Support Team.  During the same year, he participated in the coordination of humanitarian and relief activities.

Mr. El-Sonni was Head of Operations for the United Nations Office in Gaza in 2009, Senior Operations Adviser at the United Nations Regional Office for Arab States in 2008, Head of the Programme Support Unit for development programmes and projects at the Organization’s Bureau for Arab States in 2003, and Head of the Programmes and Projects Support Unit at the United Nations Office in Libya in 1998.

Mr. El-Sonni holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Tripoli, Libya, and a Master of Science from the City University of New York.

He was born in 1972 and is from Mezdah, Libya.