UNITED NATIONS, Jumada I 29, 1437, March 09, 2016, SPA -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed veteran U.N. envoy Jean Arnaud of France to head the new U.N. political mission in Colombia that will monitor and verify a future cease-fire, according to AP. Arnaud has been leading U.N. preparations for deployment of the mission and has been working closely with negotiating teams for the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on a sub-commission dealing with issues on ending Latin America's longest-running guerrilla conflict. There is a March 23 deadline for peace talks to end. Both sides asked the U.N. Security Council to establish a mission to monitor a cease-fire, and members authorized it on Jan. 25. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, who announced the appointment on Wednesday, said Arnaud previously led U.N. missions in Georgia, Afghanistan, Burundi and Guatemala. --SPA 22:18 LOCAL TIME 19:18 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w