U.N. chief set to appoint Britain's Martin Griffiths as Yemen envoy

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres notified the Security Council on Tuesday of his intention to appoint former British diplomat Martin Griffiths as his new envoy charged with trying to broker peace in Yemen, diplomats said.

The appointment will be approved by the council on Thursday evening if none of the 15-members have raised any objections. Typically, the Secretary-General has already informally consulted with council members before sending official notification.

Griffiths, currently executive director of the European Institute of Peace, will replace Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who the United Nations said would step down after three years in the job when his current contract finishes this month.

A Saudi Arabia-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015, backing government forces fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels. Yemen, which relies heavily on imports for food, is on the brink of famine and nearly 1 million people have been infected with cholera.