A veteran Alegrian diplomat, Lakhdar Brahimi is to be named as the new UN envoy to Syria in place of former envoy Kofi Annan.
A veteran Alegrian diplomat, Lakhdar Brahimi is to be named as the new UN envoy to Syria in place of former envoy Kofi Annan.
Diplomats at the UN said Thursday that Brahimi would be officially announced as the new envoy early next week.
They said that negotiations were still going on over the envoy's role and how the United Nations will operate in Syria especially that the mandate of the UN mission in the country ends on August 20.
"We are certain it will be Brahimi," said one UN diplomat.
"He is the choice of the UN secretary general and his name will be announced next week as long as he does not pull out," added another.
Annan, a former UN secretary general, quit last week, saying he was leaving because of the lack of international support for his efforts to end the 17-month Syria conflict.
He is to carry on working until August 31.
Brahimi was the UN envoy in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks and in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion.
He was Algerian foreign minister from 1991 to 1993, and he helped end Lebanon's civil war in the late 1980s as an Arab League envoy.
A UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Security Council now has to decide whether to stick with Annan's plan.
"For the moment it is all we have, but that does not mean that it cannot be reviewed. There are parts now that are redundant. There could be a new version with a new name," the diplomat said.
"All these elements are now being discussed," the diplomat added.
The Security Council powers are also discussing the future of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) -- the unarmed observers who were meant to monitor the implementation of Annan's peace plan.
A final decision is expected at a Security Council meeting next Thursday.
The original 300 military observers have been cut to less than 150 because of the worsening violence. They are still carrying out limited patrols but most of their work has now been suspended.
The Security Council gave it a "final" 30-day mandate in a resolution passed last month.
