UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The official who steered the U.N.'s diplomacy in Syria for nearly seven turbulent years announced Thursday that he is resigning.
Geir Pedersen, who has held diplomatic posts for decades for the world body and his native Norway, told the U.N. Security Council that “I have informed the secretary-general of my intention to step down.”
Pedersen, 69, was appointed as the U.N.'s special envoy to Syria in 2018, seven years into the country's civil war. Amid the chaos, Islamic State group militants took over significant parts of the nation. In 2019, the group lost the last sliver of land its fighters controlled, but sleeper cells linger.
Pedersen was charged with implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254, which aimed to usher in a political solution to the conflict between the government of then-President Bashar Assad and its opponents, but efforts to broker one repeatedly faltered.
The civil war began after mass anti-government protests in 2011 were met by a brutal government crackdown. The fighting killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of the country’s prewar population of 23 million.
The conflict was largely frozen for years, with the country carved up into areas controlled by the government and different opposition groups until December 2024, when Assad was ousted in a lightning rebel offensive led by Syria’s now-interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The country has continued to grapple with deep political, ethnic and religious divides.
___
Sewell reported from Beirut.
The Latest
Featured
