Off the wire
• 1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls on Yellen's testimony  • Urgent: Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill  • 1st LD Writethru: Oil prices stabilize after heavy selloff  • France, Italy call for better economic, fiscal coordination in eurozone  • Boko Haram militants killed by Chadian army in Nigeria  • Albanian gov't pays 326 mln USD in arrears  • Portugal's former Socialist leader to remain in preventative detention  • Russia vows to continue implementing economic tasks despite downgraded ratings  • Three missing British girls cross into Syria  • Int'l community welcomes peace efforts by elders in central Somalia  
You are here: 　 Home

UN chief appoints new Iraq envoy

Xinhua, February 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Tuesday announced his appointment of Jan Kubis of Slovakia as his new Iraq envoy, who is expected to bring years of experience in diplomacy and foreign security policy to the mission in the war-torn country.

"The Secretary-General has appointed Jan Kubis of Slovakia as his Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)," UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing.

Kubis once served as special representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2014, and as secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from 1999 to 2005.

He is going to succeed Nicklolay Mladenov of Bulgaria. The latter was appointed earlier this month as Ban's special envoy coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and personal representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.

UNAMI is a political mission established by the UN Security Council at the request of Iraqi government, which is mandated to advise and assist Iraq on a number of fronts, including advancing inclusive, political dialogue and national reconciliation.

Last week, Mladenov told the Security Council in his final briefing as UN Iraq envoy that the most pressing goal for the Middle East nation remains defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Iraq is facing an insurgency by the jihadist group ISIL, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State (IS), which has forced thousands of people mainly from minority communities to flee their homes since late last year.

The group, whose fighters had seized vast swaths of territory in northern Iraq since June 2014 and announced the establishment of a caliphate in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq, has released videos showing beheadings of several hostages in recent weeks. Endite