The UN Envoy to Yemen Has Quit
The U.N. envoy to Yemen has resigned, citing "an interest in moving on to another assignment.", Jamal Benomar, who has served as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy to the Middle Eastern country since 2012, reportedly threw in the towel due to lack of support from Gulf countries for his peacekeeping endeavors, reports the AFP. "A successor shall be named in due course," read a statement from the U.N. "Until that time and beyond, the United Nations will continue to spare no efforts to relaunch the peace process in order to get the political transition back on track.", Benomar had already mentioned the possibility of resigning in an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, saying he had already expressed his desire to step down to the Secretary-General. The conflict in Yemen is continuing to escalate as Shiite Houthi rebels march on the country's major port Aden after capturing the capital city of Sanaa. The fighting has reportedly killed over 700 people and wounded more than 2,700 others. The U.N. Security Council earlier this week adopted a resolution calling for the resumption of peace talks, even as coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia continued to carry out air strikes. The Saudi offensive has been criticized by other countries in the region, with Iran  whom it accuses of arming the Houthis  calling it "genocide.", Iran's neighbor Iraq also traded barbs with the Saudis on Wednesday, when Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said there was "no logic to the operation at all in the first place." The Saudi ambassador to the U.S. later said there was "no logic" to al-Abadi's remarks, and denied reports that Yemeni civilians had been killed in some of the air strikes. Benomar's successor, meanwhile, has been tipped as Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who currently leads the U.N. Ebola mission in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.