Veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi has a good chance of being appointed United Nations-Arab League envoy to Syria, replacing Kofi Annan in the mission, dpa quoted diplomats in Lebanon as saying Friday. "Brahimi has the experience in dealing with crises in the Middle East," a Western diplomat based in the Lebanese capital Beirut told dpa. "He showed that before in Iraq and Lebanon. Algeria has been a neutral country regarding the crisis in Syria," added the diplomat who asked not to be named. Annan said last week he was resigning as an international envoy to Syria, citing the failure of his plan to end the 17-month conflict in the country and a deadlock at the UN Security Council over the crisis. Brahimi, 78, a former Algerian foreign minister, previously served as the UN envoy to Iraq and Afghanistan As an Arab League envoy between 1984-91, he helped broker an end to Lebanon's civil war.
