Canadian diplomat to head UN envoy’s office in Damascus

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Syrian child, Taybah Al-Hajji, 1, whose family fled their home in Aleppo 15 days ago due to Syrian government shelling, sits next to her one month old brother Abdulghani, sleeping in a child safety seat covered with a mosquito net, as they take refuge with their family at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey, near the Syrian town of Azaz, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

GENEVA – A spokesman says Canadian diplomat Mokhtar Lamani will head the Damascus office of Lakhdar Brahimi, the new United Nations-Arab League envoy to Syria.

The spokesman for the envoy, Ahmad Fawzi, said Friday that Lamani, a Canadian national of Moroccan origin, is well suited for the job having served as a special Arab League envoy to Iraq.

He also served as the Organization of the Islamic Conference’s ambassador to the UN in New York from 1998 to 2002.

Brahimi took over as envoy to Syria this month, succeeding Kofi Annan who resigned in frustration over failed efforts to end a civil war that activists say has claimed 23,000 to 26,000 lives.

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