Stephanie Turco Williams is an American diplomat. , Williams is the deputy head of the

United Nations Support Mission in Libya United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

(UNSMIL) for political affairs.

Education and early career

After studying in her home country of the United States, Williams obtained a degree in economics and government relations in 1987 at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

, a master's degree in Arab Studies in 1989 at the

Center for Contemporary Arab Studies The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States, is an academic center "distinguished by its emphasis on study of the contemporary Arab world and its rigorous Arabic language training." Part of ...

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, and a master's degree in national security in 2008 from the

National War College In the United States, the National War College (NWC) is a school within the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National ...

. Williams worked in the private sector in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

before her employment by the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

Diplomat

US diplomatic representative

Williams was the US Deputy Chief of Mission in Bahrain during 2010–2013. In this role, she was also the top US diplomat in Bahrain, the chargé d'affaires, for 10 months during the

Bahraini uprising of 2011 The 2011 Bahraini uprising was a series of anti-government protests in Bahrain led by the mainly Shia and some Sunni Islam, Sunni Bahraini opposition primarily from 2011 until 2014. The protests were inspired by the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spri ...

, during which she and Ludovic Hood were attacked in Bahraini newspapers and online media. Williams was the US Deputy Chief of Mission in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

during 2013–2015 and in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

during 2016–2017. In 2018, Williams was the US

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. In June 2018 during the

Second Libyan Civil War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

, she met with senior Libyan political representatives and opposed the takeover of oil fields by the

Libyan National Army The Libyan National Army (LNA; , ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii''), also known as the Libyan Arab Army (LAA; , ''al-Jaysh al-'Arabiyy al-Lībii'') or the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF; ), is a component of Libyan Armed Forces, Libya's mil ...

(LNA) of

Khalifa Haftar Khalifa Haftar (; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA). In 2015, he was appointed commander of the armed forces loyal to the 2014 Libyan parliam ...

, calling for control of the fields to be returned to the internationally recognised

Government of National Accord The Government of National Accord (GNA; ) was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. The agreement was unanimously endors ...

(GNA).

UNSMIL and Libyan peace process

In July 2018, Williams was appointed to represent the UN Secretary-General

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

as his Deputy

Special Representative Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

for political affairs in the

(UNSMIL). ''

Middle East Monitor The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation and lobbying group that emerged in mid 2009. MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict but writes about other issues in the Middle East, as wel ...

'' interpreted Williams' appointment as symbolising a "reshuffling of the cards", a strengthening of the US interest in Libya, in the context of French, UK, Italian and US interests in Libya. On 11 January 2020, in her role as deputy head of UNSMIL for political affairs, Williams discussed with Khalid al-Mishri, head of the High Council of State (HCS), inviting the HCS to a late-January meeting between the HCS and the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

(HoR) in Geneva for the purposes of "resuming dialogue". Under the 3-point peace plan of UNSMIL head

Ghassan Salamé Ghassan Salamé (; born 1951) is a Lebanon, Lebanese academic who currently serves as the Minister of Culture since January 2025. He previously served in the same position from 2000 to 2003. He was the Dean of the Paris School of International Af ...

, the third track of the third part of the plan would consist of intra-Libyan political negotiations. The first and second points of the plan consist of a ceasefire and an international meeting to enforce the

arms embargo An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to "dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes: * to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor * to maintain ...

on Libya, while the third point includes economic, military/security and political tracks. In late 2020, as effective head of UNSMIL, Williams oversaw the continuation of the economic, military and political tracks of intra-Libyan peace negotiations. The political track was renamed the

Libyan Political Dialogue Forum The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) is an intra-Libyan political body involved in series of meetings started in late 2020, initially aiming to lead to Libyan elections, Libyan peace process and "democratic legitimacy of Libyan institution ...

(LPDF). Williams' mediation of the peace process included wide consultations, including meetings with Libyan mayors from the West, South and East of Libya as part of the LPDF process, scheduled to hold its first face-to-face meeting in Tunisia in early November 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Stephanie Turco Living people Libya–United States relations People of the Libyan civil war (2014–2020) National War College alumni Walsh School of Foreign Service University of Maryland, College Park alumni Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)