UN Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to step down: Ban

Joint UN-Arab League Special envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi will step down May 31, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

"It is with great regret that following consultations with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, I have decided to accept the request of Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi to relinquish his duties as a joint special representative of the secretary general and of the League of Arab States, effective 31st of May 2014," Ban said at a press conference Tuesday.

Brahimi was with the secretary-general as he made the announcement.

"Because of its nature, I want to make it in person," Ban said.

Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister and veteran UN official, was appointed by the secretary-general in August in 2012 as the joint international envoy for Syria in a bid to mediate an early end to the crisis in the Middle East country, which broke out in March 2011.

Ban had earlier informed the Security Council of Brahimi's resignation.

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

Annan, 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.