The United Nations’ former leader Kofi Annan was named on Thursday as special envoy for the UN and Arab League to Syria.

The United Nations named on Thursday its former leader Kofi Annan as special envoy for the UN and Arab League to Syria.

Annan will "provide good offices aimed at bringing an end to all violence and human rights violations, and promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis”, the UN and the AL said in a statement.
The leaders of the two bodies, Ban Ki-moon and Nabil el-Arabi said they were "grateful to Mr. Annan for accepting this important mission at a critical time for the people of Syria."

A deputy envoy from the Arab region is to be named soon, the two added in the statement.
Annan "will consult broadly and engage with all relevant interlocutors within and outside Syria in order to end the violence and the humanitarian crisis", said the statement.

He will seek to "facilitate a peaceful Syrian-led and inclusive political solution that meets the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people through a comprehensive political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition", it added.

The announcement was after final talks in London between Ban and Arabi and other international leaders on Syria.

Annan served two terms as UN secretary general from 1997 through 2006. After standing down he was called in as a mediator to end deadly unrest in Kenya in 2008.

The Ghanaian will now act under a mandate set out by a UN General Assembly resolution passed last week and Arab League resolutions on Syria, the UN and AL chiefs said.