With former Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete appointed the African Union (AU) High Representative for Libya, it is hoped that he will help steer the embattled country out of its quagmire of terrorism, human trafficking, hunger and conflict.

"The appointment... aims at boosting the AU high-level efforts in the search of a successful political transition and restoration of peace and stability in Libya,?AU Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement.

Kikwete, who replaces former Djibouti Prime Minister Dileita Mohamed Dileita, has rich experience in conflict resolution, having been involved in settling the long Burundi civil war in 2005.

"In most conflicts, they have to be ripe to be managed,?said Dr. Ochieng Kamudhayi, a conflict management specialist who teaches at the Center for Public Policy and Competitiveness at Nairobi's Strathmore Business School. "Some parties take long to decide if they want to come in [to negotiations, as it] happened in [the] Burundi situation. Libya is complicated but Kikwete can look back at that experience to contribute in his new role,?Kamudhayi told ChinAfrica .

Kikwete's assignment is to maintain close contact with Libyan stakeholders. He will also interact with the leaders of neighboring countries to facilitate a collective and coordinated African action on Libya.

"In particular, he will be working closely with the UN in coordinating the AU/UN efforts in the harmonization and the strengthening of international engagement in Libya,?Dlamini-Zuma said.

Since 2014, Libya has an internationally recognized government with its capital at Tobruk and a rival administration in Tripoli. In February Libya誷 UN-backed Presidency Council, the body functioning as the head of state, proposed a new cabinet in the interest of national unity.

"We can only hope that the current mechanism the AU has set up in Libya with former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete as its special envoy will succeed, and we can get back a real state," said Pauline Njoroge, communication advisor at the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the AU's planning and coordinating technical unit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been among those in the international community to call for arresting Libya's free fall.

"There will be no winner out of a conflict, and it is the people in the region who suffer,?he told a gathering at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo in January, saying urgent political dialogue was the path to a fundamental solution. Xi pledged $35 million in humanitarian aid to Libya, Syria, Yemen, Jordan and Lebanon.

Libya was once one of the richest countries in Africa, producing 480,000 barrels of oil a day, which accounted for 60 percent of its GDP, according to Oil Producing and Exporting Countries statistics.

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who seized power in 1969 and ruled for 40 years, was toppled in 2011, in the wake of an armed rebellion assisted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Gaddafi was killed in the aftermath and rebel and militant groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) began to flourish. In January, the International Contact Group for Libya, a grouping of AU and UN member countries, said Libya was becoming home to the ISIS, meaning that Libya's chaos was no longer simply an internal problem.

Many of Libya's estimated 6 million people have been displaced, with some attempting illegal migration to Europe. The latest situation report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says least 350,000 Libyans are in urgent need of food supplies and other relief.

Yet Libya is fighting to remain standing. In December 2015, Libyan political leaders signed the Libya Political Agreement, agreeing to form a national unity government. However, that government can be formed only if the House of Representatives, Libya's parliament, approves it. The AU has been given the responsibility of pushing for the consolidation of the government of national accord.

(Reporting from Kenya)