United Nations, Feb 25 (IANS): UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Jan Kubis of Slovakia as his new Iraq envoy.

"The secretary-general has appointed Jan Kubis of Slovakia as his Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)," Xinhua news agency quoted UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric as saying in a daily press briefing Tuesday.

Kubis is expected to bring years of experience in diplomacy and foreign security policy to the mission in the war-torn country.

He has served as special representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2014, and as secretary-general of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from 1999 to 2005.

Kubis is going to succeed Nicklolay Mladenov of Bulgaria. The latter was appointed earlier this month as Ban's special envoy coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and personal representative to the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority.

UNAMI is a political mission established by the UN Security Council at the request of the Iraqi government, which is mandated to advise and assist Iraq on a number of fronts, including advancing inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation.

Last week, Mladenov told the Security Council in his final briefing as the UN's Iraq envoy that the most pressing goal for the Middle Eastern nation remains defeating the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group.

Iraq is facing an insurgency by the IS, which has forced thousands of people mainly from minority communities to flee their homes since late last year.

The group, whose fighters had seized vast swathes of territory in northern Iraq since June 2014 and announced the establishment of a “caliphate” in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq, has released videos showing beheadings of several hostages in recent weeks.