EU Pledges Support for New Syria Envoy Brahimi

The European Union on Saturday pledged to support Lakhdar Brahimi as the new international mediator on the Syria conflict in his "immensely challenging task".

"Mr. Brahimi is an experienced diplomat with a deep understanding of the region," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement, adding: "The EU will provide him with its full support in this immensely challenging task."

The United Nations said Friday that the Algerian former foreign minister would take over as international envoy, jointly representing the U.N. and the Arab League, from Kofi Annan, who quit on August 2 after the failure of his peace plan.

"The prerequisite for any political process to work is full support by the U.N. Security Council and agreement by all parties to give diplomacy another chance," Ashton said.

She added: "Further militarization of the conflict by any of the parties can only bring greater suffering to Syria, its citizens, and the region as a whole."

Ashton said the EU continued to favor a "Syrian-led political transition that would meet the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people".

Brahimi, 78, admitted on accepting the appointment that he was not confident he would be able to end the 17-month-old conflict, which activists say has killed 23,000 people, while the United Nations puts the toll at 17,000.

Asked whether he was confident the civil war could be ended, Brahimi told the France 24 news channel: "No, I'm not. What I am confident of is that I am going to try my utmost, my very, very best."

The appointment was announced the day after the United Nations decided to end its observer mission in Syria tasked with monitoring a ceasefire that never took effect.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to give the new envoy "strong, clear and unified" support, after Annan complained that his mission had been hamstrung by the deep rift on the U.N. Security Council between the West and traditional Damascus allies Beijing and Moscow.

Brahimi has vast experience handling conflict-stricken states. He was Algeria's foreign minister from 1991-93 and later became a U.N. envoy in Afghanistan before and after the September 11, 2001, attacks, and in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

While representing the Arab League, Brahimi helped end the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s, negotiating with the Syrian government of the time.