Joint UN-Arab League Envoy for Syria to step down

United Nations, May 13 (IANS) Joint UN-Arab League Special envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi will step down May 31, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council Tuesday.

Brahimi was appointed by the United Nations as the peace envoy to Syria, replacing Kofi Annan, on August 17, 2012.

Anan, a former UN secretary general, apparently resigned in frustration. Like Brahimi, he complained that the permanent members of the Security Council could not unite behind his calls for an end to the violence and a peaceful political transition in Syria.