UN hires Swedish diplomat Hans Grundberg to run Yemen peace talks
SMA NEWS – ADEN
New UN peacemaker takes over amid revived fighting between rebels and pro-government forces
Swedish diplomat Hans Grundberg is set to become the next UN envoy to Yemen, where years of peacemaking efforts have failed to end a war and a deepening humanitarian crisis, diplomats said.
The UN has not formally announced Mr Grundberg’s appointment, but he was congratulated on social media on Friday by two former Swedish foreign ministers, Margot Wallstrom and Jan Eliasson.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reportedly told UN Security Council members this month that he planned to hire Mr Grundberg, a Middle East specialist who has been the EU’s ambassador to Yemen since 2019.
The career diplomat has also been posted to Cairo, Jerusalem and Brussels, where he headed a working group on the Middle East.
He will replace Martin Griffiths as the UN’s fourth envoy to Yemen. Mr Griffiths, a Briton, was named in May as the UN’s next head of global humanitarian affairs. He has expressed “deep regret” for failing to end Yemen’s protracted conflict.
