UNITED NATIONS, May 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Lakhdar Brahimi will step down as United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria as of May 31. This was reported by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday.

Earlier, the Syrian side accused Brahimi of “multiple mistakes” in the course of Geneva negotiations. Such a statement was made April 23 by the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations Headquarters Bashar Jaafari. He said that the envoy went beyond his authority by taking the side of the opposition.

“He has made multiple mistakes, but we are ready to interact with him in order to resume the negotiations,” the diplomat stated then. On a question from ITAR-TASS on what exactly Brahimi was mistaken, the Syrian representative responded that the special envoy “went beyond his authority”. “He should be a mediator, and the mediator does not take the side of one of the parties, as he did,” Jaafari noted.

Bashar Jaafari said that, upon the results of the second round of Geneva II talks, Brahimi undertook the task of “holding consultations with the concerned parties on the date of the new round of talks”. “We are waiting him to return with an answer,” the diplomat said.