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The Telegraph 6:00 PM - 17 Aug 12 via twitterfeed · Details
Syria: Lakhdar Brahimi replaces Kofi Annan as UN envoy
The United Nations has confirmed that veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi will replace Kofi Annan as the UN-Arab League envoy tasked with brokering peace in Syria.
Lakhdar Brahimi, 78, has been named the new United Nations special envoy for Syria Photo: AP
10:46PM BST 17 Aug 2012
Mr Annan stepped down earlier this month after a ceasefire he helped negotiate collapsed.
In his first tentative comments, Mr Brahimi admitted he was not over-confident he would be able to end the 17-month-old conflict.
"I might very well fail but we sometimes are lucky and we can get a breakthrough," he told the BBC in an interview. But "these missions have to be undertaken. We have got to try. We have got to see that the Syrian people are not abandoned."
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On the ground, violence was also reported in other towns and villages across the country, with the bloodletting showing no signs of any let-up a day after the United Nations formally called time on its observer mission.
"The violence and the suffering in Syria must come to an end," UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in a statement announcing the appointment of Mr Brahimi.
Mr Ban called on the international community to give "strong, clear and unified" support to the new envoy, after Mr Annan complained that his mission had been mission had been hamstrung by the deep rift on the UN Security Council between the West and Syria's traditional allies, China and Russia.
But in sign that the divisions remain as large as ever, Washington called for clarifications on Mr Brahimi's mandate and Moscow called off a meeting on the conflict that had been planned for Friday after Western and Arab governments said they would not attend.
On the ground, at least 72 people were killed as the regime continued its onslaught on Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, a watchdog which has a network of activists on the ground.
The army clashed with rebels near the main military airport in Damascus and shelled southern parts of the capital as well as areas of the commercial city of Aleppo and the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, the Observatory said.
Deadly violence was also reported in the provinces of Homs and Daraa, the cradle of the uprising that began with peaceful protests in March 2011 but has escalated into an increasingly vicious battle between armed rebels and government forces.
Opposition factions reported that 65 bodies had been found dumped on a rubbish tip in a town near Damascus, claiming the victims had been bound, executed and set on fire by pro-government forces.
