Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday is expected to nominate the head of the U.N. Ebola mission as the new special envoy to Yemen, the country's U.N. ambassador said Thursday. Ambassador Khaled Alyemany told The Associated Press that Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed, of Mauritania, is the only candidate for the post after Jamal Benomar on Wednesday announced his intention to step down.| A new special envoy. That should solve the problem of Yemen... |
| All of which worked really, really well... |
Ban was expected to nominate Ahmed in a letter to the current Security Council president. The council must approve the nomination to make it official.
There was no immediate comment from Ban's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, who has said Ban would consult the parties in Yemen and countries in the region before selecting a replacement, adding that it must be "someone who can talk to all parties."
Benomar's departure created a diplomatic vacuum in Yemen,
| Really? Did anyone notice the absence of the UN? I mean, other than the caterers and the |
But Benomar had come under criticism from some in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, as his recent efforts to broker peace yielded little success.
"He had started to promote the Houthis, and we cannot accept that," Alyemany said Thursday. "He started really ignoring the government and ignoring the president."
The ambassador said he doesn't see any objection to Ahmed from the collection of Gulf countries that had pressed for Benomar's departure.