The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Stephanie Williams of the United States as his Special Adviser on Libya. She will lead good offices and mediation efforts and engagements with Libyan regional and international stakeholders to pursue implementation of the three intra-Libyan dialogue tracks – political, security and economic – and support the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya.
Ms. Williams has extensive experience in diplomacy and foreign security policy, both internationally and in her own country. She previously served as Acting Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) (2020-2021), and as Deputy Special Representative (Political) of UNSMIL (2018-2020). A member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counsellor, Ms. Williams took up her duties as Chargé d’Affaires a.i. for the Libya External Office (Tunis) in 2018.
She previously served as Senior Adviser on Syria, based in London, and reporting to the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (2017-2018). She also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission in Iraq (2016-2017), in Jordan (2013-2015) and in Bahrain (2010-2013) and served at the U.S. Embassies in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Pakistan. In Washington, she served as the Jordan Desk Officer, the Deputy Director of Egypt and Levant Affairs, and the Director of the Maghreb Office.
She graduated with honours from the University of Maryland in 1987 with a double degree in Economics and Government Relations. In 1989, she earned a Master’s Degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. She is a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College, where she earned a Master’s Degree in National Security Studies in 2008. She is fluent in English and Arabic.
