Algeria’s former foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi has replaced Kofi Annan as peace envoy to Syria, the United Nations said on Friday.
Brahimi, 78, formally accepted the post and will resume efforts for a diplomatic solution to Syria's crisis, said Eduardo del Buey, deputy spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
"The Secretary-General appreciates Mr. Brahimi's willingness to bring his considerable talents and experience to this crucial task for which he will need, and rightly expects, the strong, clear and unified support of the international community, including the Security Council," del Buey said.
Moscow welcomed Brahimi’s appointment and pledged support for him.
“We hope that the activity by this experienced diplomat will expedite the cessation of violence and political settlement in the country,” Russian UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said.
“We will give him every assistance.”
Annan, who assumed his post in February and authored a six-point peace plan aimed at ending the Syrian conflict, announced in early August that he would quit by the end of the month citing the deadlock at the UN Security Council over ways to resolve the current political crisis in the country.
Since March 2011, the Syrian conflict has claimed up to 20,000 lives, according to estimates by various Syrian opposition groups. The West is pushing for President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, while Russia and China are trying to prevent outside interference in Syria saying the Assad regime and the opposition are both to blame for the bloodshed.
