UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon confirmed the appointment of veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi as UN and Arab League envoy, replacing Mr Kofi Annan, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

Earlier this month, Mr Kofi Annan announced that he would step down from his high-profile role when the 15-nation council provided no backing.

Diplomats said Mr Brahimi had been undecided for days about whether to accept the post offered by Mr Ban.

They said he did not want to be seen as a mere replacement of Mr Annan but wanted a reconfigured title and fresh approach to his mandate as a peace broker.

“He has agreed to take the post but with an amended title; he has new ideas about the approach to take,” a UN official said, adding that Mr Ban had accepted that.

They said Mr Brahimi would be based in New York, unlike Mr Annan, who was based in Geneva.

Mr Brahimi, a veteran UN troubleshooter, has demanded “strong support” from the Security Council for efforts to secure a negotiated peace, the diplomat said.

Meanwhile, the Security Council confirmed it would not renew the mandate of the UN observer mission in Syria, which is due to expire in a few days.

French UN Ambassador Gérard Araud said the observers would begin to withdraw from the country.

Mr Araud, who is the president of the Security Council for August, said conditions for renewing the mandate had not been met.