Colombia's environment minister resigns, stays on as COP16 head


FILE PHOTO: Colombia's Minister  of Environment and Sustainable Development Susana Muhamad holds a press conference during the COP29 United Nations climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File Photo

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said on Sunday she has informed President Gustavo Petro of her resignation from the post.

"I have submitted my letter of resignation to President Gustavo Petro, he has it in his hands ... We have to see when it will go into effect," Muhamad said in an interview on Colombian online news program Los Danieles.

Muhamad said she will stay in her role as president of the United Nations COP16 on biodiversity, a summit that brought together 200 nations in October last year.

She added that she discussed the reasons for her resignation during a recent meeting of ministers, in which she opposed the naming of Armando Benedetti to Petro's cabinet over allegations of violence against women and influence peddling.

Benedetti last week said false stories were being told about him.

(Reporting by Oliver Griffin, Adriana Barrera and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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