Moussa accepts resignation of AL envoy to Iraq

Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa accepted on Wednesday the resignation of the AL envoy to Iraq Mokhtar Lamani.

In a statement, Moussa said that the AL insists on continuing efforts to support Iraq and realize reconciliation among all its factions, which is the only way to help the Iraqis overcome their current crisis.

The AL mission will remain in Iraq at the level of the Charge d 'Affaires until a new envoy is named, he added.

Lamani sent his resignation letter to Moussa on Jan. 22, according to an AL source.

In the letter, Lamani said that he had decided to quit his post as AL envoy to Iraq at the end of February, because the mission failed to achieve any serious or positive steps on the way of national reconciliation in the war-torn country as well as the lack of any Arab vision to settle the conflict there.

He blamed the failure of his mission on the escalating cycle of violence in Iraq and the deterioration of regional and international positions.

Lamani, a Moroccan, was one of the few Arab diplomats still working in Baghdad as most of Arab ambassadors and diplomats performed their duties from the neighboring Jordan's capital of Amman.

In March 2006, AL's Council of Arab Foreign Ministers appointed Lamani as the pan-Arab group's envoy to Iraq, which was ratified by the Khartoum Arab summit in the same month.

Source: Xinhua