Tripoli— The United States Special Envoy to Libya Ambassador Richard Norland announced Monday that he will be concluding his assignment as Ambassador and Special Envoy by the end of this month.
In a statement on the US Embassy in Libya X platform, Mr. Norland said he would also retire after nearly 45 years in the Foreign Service including six years in Libya.
“I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the Libyan officials and private citizens I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with across the country in support of a peaceful, united Libya,” he said.
Mr. Norland has become a rather familiar diplomat in Libya among both the public and politicians as he was rather active and sometimes aggressive in pushing his message to the ever-conflicting political parties in the country, but, unfortunately, without tangible positive results.
However, given the long political and diplomatic experience, Mr. Norland may not be the person to blame regarding the unsolved, continuing and deepening political crisis in Libya, especially if he had been fully implementing an intentional United States policy toward the country.
On 1 April 2019, President Donald Trump nominated Richard Norland to be the United States Ambassador to Libya. On 1 August 2019, the Senate confirmed his nomination by voice vote. Norland assumed office on 8 August in the same year.
Mr. Norland was a witness to Libya’s failure to hold general presidential and parliamentary elections on 24 December 2021; this failure has left a real bad after-taste with the Libya people who have been thinking that the international community and UNSMIL were instrumental in allowing it to occur.
After all, Norland, as the US Special Envoy and Ambassador to Libya during such time, could have made much difference in bring an end to the Libyan crisis and help in forging stability, peace and prosperity as he repeatedly stated in meeting with Libyan officials, citizens and in the media.
Norland added that he “would also like to thank my colleagues in the foreign diplomatic community and especially at UNSMIL for their tireless collaboration.”
To the staff of the United States Embassy in Libya led by Charge d’Affaires Jeremy Berndt, he said “thank you for your unwavering professional support of our diplomacy in Libya.” Adding, “the US will continue to engage with Libyans from east, west and south in support of efforts to unify the country and build a partnership that will make both our countries safer, stronger and more prosperous.”
