QUITO: Ecuador is seeking a mediator to resolve the standoff with Britain on the future of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up in its London embassy since 2012, the South American country’s foreign minister said Tuesday, reports AFP.

Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said the South American country was looking at the possibility of a “third country or a personality” stepping in to settle the five-year impasse.

Assange, an Australian citizen now aged 46, moved into Ecuador’s embassy to avoid arrest over a now-dropped Swedish investigation into rape allegations.

He has not stepped foot outside the mission since, fearing he could be extradited to the United States and put on trial for WikiLeaks’ publication of leaked secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.

British police have said they are still seeking to arrest him on for failing to surrender to a court after violating bail terms.