UN SECRETARY GENERAL'S ENVOY TO VISIT ARABIA AND IRAN

The United Nations spokesman, Steplane DuJarrick, has said the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is visiting Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Mr. DuJarrick told reporters on Monday in New York that de Mistura would also visit Iran later in the week.
He said during the visits, the Special Envoy would assess the implications of the recent developments between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the momentum of the Vienna process for Syria.
The spokesman said de Mistura believed the crisis in Saudi-Iranian relations ”is a very worrisome development”.
Mr. DuJarrick told reporters that the envoy stressed the need to ensure that the development did not cause a chain of adverse consequences in the region.
Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations with Iran on Sunday, following the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr and 46 other prisoners by Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
The Saudi authorities gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country as the kingdom’s execution of the cleric inflamed sectarian tensions.

In another development, Mr. DuJarrick said the UN Mission in the Central African Republic reported that the National Elections Authority had released partial provisional results.
He said that the results were based on votes cast in eight prefectures and 15 per cent of votes cast outside of the country.
The spokesman said the election authority ”is expected to announce the final results by the end of this week and the Constitutional Court is due to confirm the results on Jan.15”.
He said that the Mission reported that 95 per cent of the polling stations were open on election day.
Mr. DuJarrick said the mission confirmed that the participation of voters in the prefectures was estimated to have reached 75 per cent.