CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 11:21AM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 12:02PM EDT
Kofi Annan is resigning as the United Nations special envoy to Syria as of Aug. 31, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in a surprise announcement Thursday.
"Mr. Annan has informed me, and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Mr. Nabil Elaraby, of his intention not to renew his mandate when it expires on August 31, 2012," Ban said in a statement.
"Kofi Annan deserves our profound admiration for the selfless way in which he has put his formidable skills and prestige to this most difficult and potentially thankless of assignments," Ban said.
He added that he and Elaraby are in discussions on appointing a successor.
Annan, the former UN secretary-general who was appointed peace envoy by both the UN and the Arab League envoy, has been working for months to mediate the 17-month-long Syrian uprising in which an estimated 19,000 have died.
Four months ago, he helped draft a six-point peace plan that was intended to bring an end to the fighting. But neither side in the conflict has fully adhered to the plan and the violence has continued.
Annan's resignation comes a day before the UN General Assembly is due to vote on a non-binding resolution drafted by Arab League countries.
The resolution was originally going to call on Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign and turn over power to a transitional government. But on Thursday, it was decided to weaken the resolution and drop the demand for Assad’s resignation.
Ban said Thursday that the UN remained committed to “pursue through diplomacy” an end to the violence.
“This can only succeed – indeed any peacemaking effort can only prosper – when the parties to the violence make a firm commitment to dialogue, and when the international community is strongly united in support.”
