UN Security Council appoints Griffiths as new Yemen envoy

No council member raised objections to the decision by a Thursday deadline

The UN Security Council on Thursday approved the appointment of Martin Griffiths of Britain as the new envoy for Yemen, the third mediator to take on the mission over the past seven years.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday informed the council of his intention to appoint Griffiths and no council member raised objections to the decision by a deadline set for Thursday, diplomats said.

Griffiths, who is executive director of the Brussels-based European Institute of Peace, “brings extensive experience in conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation and humanitarian affairs,” Guterres wrote in the letter.

War-wracked Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations, with 60 per cent of the population - 17 million people in need of food, seven million of whom are at risk of famine.

Griffiths will replace Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad of Mauritania, who last month said he would not stay on as Yemen envoy beyond the end of his contract at the end of this month.

As UN envoy since April 2015, Ould Shaikh Ahmad failed to make progress in diplomatic efforts to end the war between the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s government and Al Houthi militants

His predecessor, Jamal Bin Omar, also quit after four years of efforts to establish a political transition fell apart, and the Saudi-led coalition began an air campaign in Yemen.

More than 9,200 people have been killed in the gruelling conflict, according to the World Health Organisation.

A severe cholera outbreak has also killed 2,000 people and infected one million, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.