The nominee for the position of US Ambassador to Libya, Jennifer Gavito, has called on US President Joe Biden to withdraw her nomination. This comes 32 months after the State Department has requested consideration of her position and the start of the verification process, and nine months after the Senate's reception of her nomination.
Gavito said that the failure to appoint a US ambassador to Libya for two years had given Russia and China the opportunity to exploit Washington's absence and destabilize NATO's southern flank, considering that diplomacy was Washington's best tool to confront what she called the malign influences of those parties.
Gavito commented during her speech before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee last June by saying: "The real US interests are at risk in Libya, in light of the increasing instability in the Sahel region that threatens NATO's southern flank." She warned that Moscow was seeking to destabilize NATO’s southern flank by “building a more open and formal defense relationship with Libyan actors, as a low-cost relationship.”
She promised – if appointed – to work with Libyans in the east and west to enhance military integration to protect the country’s borders and sovereignty in order to “preserve hard-won gains in the fight against terrorism and prevent any opportunity for extremists to threaten American interests."
Gavito pointed to Libya’s important role in stabilizing the world’s energy sector as the largest country in Africa and the ninth largest country in the world in terms of proven oil reserves, in addition to large gas reserves.
