Diplomatic rumor mill churns over Syria mediator Brahimi's future

While diplomatic sources have told a news agency that Lakhdar Brahimi plans to step down and the United Nations is looking for a replacement, the official spokesman for the UN and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria insists he is going nowhere.

According to a Reuters report published on Wednesday, the 80-year-old Algerian has decided to leave and a "search is on for his successor". The news agency wrote that Brahimi is leaving  in frustration at Syrian President Bashar Assad’s insistence that elections be held in June, though his country being in the midst of a bloody civil war that has killed more than 150,000.

Brahimi, a seasoned UN diplomat and negotiator who previously worked on Iraq and Afghanistan, has long hinted that he is unhappy in the Syria post and diplomatic sources told the news agency that several replacements are now being considered, including former Tunisian foreign minister Kamel Morjane.

The report contrasts with a statement made late last month by his official spokesman, Farhan Al-Haj.

“I can deny the news that Lakhdar Brahimi has resigned from his post,” Haj said in comments to Asharq Al-Awsat.

Brahimi will be in New York at the end of this week and is due to meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday. Security Council diplomats told Reuters that he will hold a briefing on 13 May about his so far unsuccessful efforts to bring an end to the conflict, now in its fourth year.

A senior Western diplomat told reporters on Wednesday that he expected Brahimi to make known his intention to resign during his stay in New York. Another senior diplomat confirmed the remarks. Both diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity.

A senior UN official told Reuters it was not a question of whether Brahimi would resign, but when.

“It will certainly happen soon,” the official said.

The UN has so far refused to comment officially on the matter.

“The secretary-general very much appreciates the ongoing role that Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi plays in trying to end the appalling violence in Syria,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq told Reuters. “We do not speculate on personnel matters.”

Brahimi has been a key driving force behind to rounds of negotiations between Assad and opposition forces known as Geneva I and Geneva II. Neither round of talks succeeded in ending the conflict or bringing the various sides closer together, although Brahimi has been vocal in condemning Assad’s decision to hold June elections, saying the move undermined further reconciliation.