UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Monday said that the international body’s top mediator for the conflict in Yemen , Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, would step down in February. “The special envoy remains committed to pursue through diplomacy an end to the violence and a political solution that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni people, until a successor is named.”Cheikh Ahmed, a Mauritanian diplomat, was appointed the UN’s special envoy for Yemen in April 2015. No end in sightDespite numerous attempts, the UN has failed to sway warring parties to join talks in a bid to find a political solution to the conflict since it erupted in 2014. The conflict has pushed the country to the brink of famine, and a cholera epidemic has affected nearly 1 million people. The UN has criticized the Saudi-led coalition for imposing a blockade and disrupting the work of humanitarian agencies.

Source: Egypt Independent January 23, 2018 07:52 UTC