UN appoints new Syria envoy amid diplomatic wrestling

BEIJING - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday announced the appointment of Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat, as the new joint special envoy of the UN and the Arab League (AL) for Syria.

"The secretary-general of the United Nations is pleased, along with Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby of the League of Arab States, to announce the appointment today of Lakhdar Brahimi as their Joint Special Representative for Syria," said a statement from the UN after the appointment.

Brahimi, 78, was Algeria's foreign minister from 1991 to 1993. He joined the United Nations in 1994, where he served in a variety of high-profile posts until he retired in 2005.

In the statement, the UN chief stressed that diplomacy to promote a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Syria remains a top priority for the UN, saying that more fighting and militarization will only exacerbate the suffering and make a peaceful resolution of the crisis more difficult.

Brahimi echoed the demand of his predecessor, former UN chief Kofi Annan, that the UN Security Council unite behind his efforts to persuade the two sides to end the conflict.

Beijing and Moscow firmly object to any suggestion of military intervention and insist on diplomacy to solve the 17-month-old conflict in the heavyweight Middle East.

Also rejecting rising calls for military intervention to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Friday that Paris would not use force "without international legality". He also reiterated Paris' refusal to provide Syrian rebels with weapons.

Washington has also ruled out the possibility of arming rebel fighters for now, saying it would only provide nonlethal assistance, such as communications equipment.

The appointment of the new Syria envoy was announced a day after the UN Security Council agreed to establish a new political liaison office in Damascus. The office is expected to back the mediation efforts by the UN and the AL.

Meanwhile, Russia on Friday had to cancel a meeting of key nations and international organizations on the Syria conflict planned for later in the day, after some Western and Arab nations said they would not attend.

Moscow's UN envoy had earlier invited the five Security Council permanent members and some other nations to discuss a possible call for Syrian government and the opposition to end the violence by a specific date.

In addition, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman welcomed on Friday Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's proposal to form a contact group to resolve regional crises including the Syrian unrest.

Morsi raised the proposal on the sidelines of an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation held days ago in Saudi Arabia, which ended with the suspension of Syria's membership.

The lasting turmoil in Syria has so far driven thousands of refugees into neighboring countries. The Turkish state disaster and emergency authority reported that 66,000 Syrians are now taking shelter there.

Inside Syria, some 1.2 million people are uprooted, many staying in schools or other public buildings, UN officials said. UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said Thursday that up to 2.5 million people needed aid there.