A man for difficult tasks

MARTIN KOBLER

Special Representative and Head 
of the UN Support Mission in Libya

Martin Kobler is one of the most experienced German diplomats at the United Nations. In early November 2015, he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the organisation’s new Special Representative in Libya. His job is to get the conflict parties there to take the next step towards peace in the “post-Gaddafi era”. His predecessor, the Spaniard Bernardino León, brought the parties to the negotiating table; Kobler, it is hoped, will bring the process to a conclusion: the formation of a unity government. “A difficult task at a critical juncture” was Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s comment on Kobler’s appointment. But delicate missions are nothing new to Kobler. After studying law and pursuing a classical diplomatic career, the 62-year-old has served with the international organ­isation since 2010. He spent the past two years in Congo as head of the UN peacekeeping operation there. Prior to that he was UN Special Representative for Iraq, and before that he held UN posts in Afghanistan.

In Congo, the Stuttgart-born Martin Kobler gained a reputation as a hands-on crisis manager. When he took up the post in 2013, marauding militias were terrorising many areas of the country and the UN’s biggest blue-helmets mission appeared to be on the brink of failure. But then the Security Council beefed up the mandate with a 3,000-strong Intervention Brigade – and Martin Kobler, who describes himself as a pacifist, didn’t hesitate to deploy them. He ordered the bombardment of rebel positions in the east of the country, thus gaining an important partial victory. That move sealed his reputation as a man for “Herculean tasks”. And Libya is a decisive piece in the big political puzzle of the Middle East because, besides all else, it is one of the principal transit countries for 
refugees. That’s why it’s not only New York that is 
pinning its hopes on Martin Kobler. ▪