UN special envoy steps down amid strife
The UN's special envoy to Yemen has stepped down after four years of efforts at a peaceful political transition in the Arab world's poorest country, even as it fell apart amid a Shiite rebel uprising and Saudi-led airstrikes.
A UN statement late on Wednesday said Jamal Benomar "has expressed an interest in moving on to another assignment" and that his successor will be named "in due course". Benomar's departure creates a diplomatic vacuum in Yemen, where he had been the key international figure working to bring the feuding parties together, even after diplomats fled embassies and the UN staff pulled out.
Benomar, who previously served as an envoy in Iraq and Afghanistan, had come under criticism from some in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, as his recent efforts to broker peace showed little success.
