Local Editor
The United Nations has appointed Briton Martin Griffiths as its next special envoy to Yemen, a news report said on Tuesday.
It comes after Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed announced on Monday that he will step down from the role at the end of next month. He had been in the position since April 2015.
Sources in New York confirmed Griffiths' appointment.
The Briton is the executive director of the European Institute of Peace, the website of which describes him a senior international mediator. Between 2012 and 2014, he served in the office of UN Syria envoys Kofi Annan, Lakhdar Brahimi and Staffan de Mistura.
News of Griffiths' appointment came as British foreign minister Boris Johnson hosted talks with his UAE, Saudi and US counterparts to discuss the next steps for reaching a political resolution to the Yemeni conflict.
Ahead of the meeting, Johnson tweeted that "a political settlement is the only long term solution for Yemen".
Saudi Arabia has been leading a destructive military campaign against Yemen since March 2015 to reinstate former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and crush the Houthi movement.
The campaign has seriously damaged the country’s infrastructure. Local Yemeni sources have put the death toll from the Saudi war at over 13,000, including many women and children.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
