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UNITED NATIONS: Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan is the favourite to become the international envoy on the worsening Syria crisis, diplomats said Thursday.
Annan and former Finnish president Martti Ahtissari were the two leading candidates to be the envoy, diplomats said.
But current UN chief Ban Ki-moon will speak with Annan on Thursday amid growing pressure for an initiative on the conflict which has left thousands dead, UN officials said.
Annan was secretary general from 1997 to 2006. He has since been called upon to mediate in troubles such as unrest in Kenya that erupted in 2008.
Annan and Ahtissari, who was the UN envoy on the Kosovo conflict, are both Nobel peace prize winners.
Ban was holding consultations on the appointment while at an international conference on Somalia in London, officials told AFP on condition of anonymity. They said no official announcement was expected on Thursday however.
CNN television, citing "a senior UN source," reported in a Twitter message Thursday that the post would go to Annan.
The international community has been badly divided on the Syria crisis. Russia and China vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions condemning the bloodshed.
But since the UN General Assembly passed a symbolic resolution last week, Russia has stepped up calls for greater efforts on easing deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Syria.
More than 7,600 people have been killed in the 11 months since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's government began, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
- AFP/wk
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