Michael Holmes is leaving CNN International's Back|Story, effective this Friday.

Holmes will swap roles with fellow CNN International anchor Isha Sesay and move to hosting duties of the 10:00am (eastern) edition of International Desk. Sesay, a regular fill-in host on Back|Story, assumes the Back|Story role fulltime from next Monday.

Holmes made the announcement on Back|Story's facebook page earlier today:

"I shall very much miss working with our amazing team (although I'll probably keep my desk, so I'll be all of three feet away from them!) and enjoying the routine of putting this terrific show together. It's really been an honour to work on this show, with these people and I'm going to miss it. But the new challenge awaits and I'm looking forward to anchoring an hour of hard news every day.

I shall also very much miss you - our incredibly loyal, enthusiastic and "involved" viewers. You guys have been amazing from day one, offering your thoughts, story ideas and even questions for our interviews with guests and correspondents.

From Africa to Europe to Asia to North and South America, you have been fantastic - and have made the BackStory FB page by far the most popular of all CNNi's shows!

I'll be here for the rest of the week and my last show will be this Friday. I do hope you can be with me this week, give Isha a great welcome, and tune in to Idesk as well as BackStory!! :)"

Michael Holmes has hosted the popular daily program since its launch in 2008. Each day, Back|Story provides a behind-the-scenes look at CNN's worldwide newsgathering efforts, giving viewers extra insight into the day's top stories.