Najla Mangoush

Najla Mohammed El Mangoush (Arabic: نجلاء المنقوش; born 7 June 1973) is a Libyan diplomat and lawyer. She was Libya's foreign minister in Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh's government from 15 March 2021 until her dismissal on 28 August 2023. El Mangoush has been Libya's first and only female foreign minister, and the fifth woman to hold the position of a foreign minister in the Arab World.

Early life and education Najla El Mangoush was born in Cardiff, Wales, to a family of four children who originated from Libya, but she grew up in Benghazi, the city to which the family returned, when she was six years old.

El Mangoush was trained as a lawyer at Benghazi University (then Garyounis University) and was later an assistant professor of law at the university. She later obtained a Fulbright Scholarship to the United States of America, where she graduated from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia.

On 6 November 2021, the Presidential Council suspended Mangoush on charges of carrying out foreign policy without coordination with the council. She was also barred from traveling. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh disputed the right of the Presidential Council to suspend Mangoush, saying the power to appoint or suspend ministers in his government is his exclusive preserve.

After the announcement of a meeting between Mangoush and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Italy on 27 August 2023, she was suspended, and an investigation was opened against her. On 28 August, she was dismissed from Dbeibeh's cabinet.

Awards On December 7, 2021, Mangoush was named in the BBC 100 Women 2021 list for her work on building links with civil society organisations. In 2022, Mangoush received the International Women of Courage Award from the United States Department of State.