The UN Security Council voted on Friday to extend the political mission in Libya for only three months, with Russia vetoing a lengthier extension until a new UN ambassador is chosen.

The resolution extends the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) “until 31 July 2022” and “calls on the Secretary-General to nominate an SRSG (emissary) expeditiously” to be located in Tripoli.

The resolution requires the UN chief to report monthly on its implementation until the end of July.

Since the resignation in November of Slovak envoy Jan Kubis, the Security Council has been marked by growing Russian opposition to any common agreement on Libya.

UNSMIL’s annual mandate was renewed in September for only four months, before being extended in January for another three months.

According to diplomats, at the start of negotiations, Britain presented its 14 partners in the Security Council with a draft text renewing UNSMIL’s mandate for one year.

But faced with Russian resistance, the text transformed into a technical renewal of the current mandate for only three months.

On April 19, during a closed-door meeting, the UN Secretariat had called for an longer renewal to give time to recruit an envoy.

Russia instead called for an appointment to be made as soon as possible before deciding on a more prolonged mandate for UNSMIL, diplomatic sources told AFP.

Libya has been mired in conflict for long stretches since longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi was deposed and killed in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

Plagued by divisions between competing institutions in the east and west, Libya remains split between rival forces, with two opposing executives in place since February.

Earlier in April, a rival government chosen by parliament in the east met for the first time, presenting a challenge to an UN-brokered cabinet stationed in the west’s capital, Tripoli.

The UN resolution passed on Friday calls on “all parties to desist from any measures that could jeopardize the political process” or a ceasefire in October 2020.