Lakhdar Brahimi

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Lakhdar Brahimi bigraphy, stories - Algerian envoy

Lakhdar Brahimi : biography

1 January 1934 –

Lakhdar Brahimi (Algerian pronunciation: ; ; born 1 January 1934) is an Algerian United Nations envoy and advisor, and since August 2012, the United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria.

He is also a member of The Elders, a group of world leaders working for global peace. Brahimi is a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, the first global initiative to focus specifically on the link between exclusion, poverty and law. He is also a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organization which works to promote good governance around the world. He is currently a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a governing board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Career history

  • National Liberation Front Representative to Indonesia: 1956–1961
  • Ambassador to Egypt, Sudan and the Arab League: 1963–1970
  • Ambassador to the United Kingdom: 1971–1979
  • Diplomatic Adviser to the President: 1982–1984
  • Undersecretary General of the Arab League: 1984–1991
  • Arab League Special Envoy for Lebanon: 1989–1991
  • Foreign Minister of Algeria: 5 June 1991 – 3 February 1993
  • Rapporteur to the Earth Summit: 3 June 1992 – 14 June 1992
  • United Nations Special Envoy for South Africa: December 1993 – June 1994
  • United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti: 1994–1996
  • United Nations Special Envoy for Afghanistan: July 1997 – October 1999
  • Chairperson of the Independent Panel on United Nations Peace Operations: 7 March 2000 – 17 August 2000
  • United Nations Special Envoy for Afghanistan: 3 October 2001 – 31 December 2004
  • Chairperson of the Bonn Conference: 24 November 2001 – 5 December 2001
  • Special Adviser and Undersecretary General of the United Nations: 2004–2005
  • United Nations Special Envoy for Iraq: 1 January 2004 – 12 June 2004
  • Visiting Professor of the Institute for Advanced Study: 2006–2008
  • Member of The Elders: 2007–present
  • Chairperson of the Independent Panel on Safety and Security of United Nations Personnel and Premises Worldwide: 5 February 2008 – 9 June 2008
  • United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy for Syria: 2012–present

From 1996–1997, he also undertook a series of special missions to Zaire, Cameroon, Yemen, Burundi, Angola, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan and Côte d’Ivoire of behalf of the United Nations.

Distinctions

In 2010, Lakhdar Brahimi was Laureate of the Special Jury Prize for Conflict Prevention awarded by the Fondation Chirac, a foundation which was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace.

Early life and education

Brahimi was born in 1934 in El Azizia near Tablat, Algeria about 60 km south of Algiers. He was educated in Algeria and in France where he studied law and political science. He joined the campaign for independence in France in 1956, representing the National Liberation Front in South East Asia for five years.

Career

Brahimi was the United Nations special representative for Afghanistan and Iraq. Before his appointment in 2001 by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, he had served the U.N. as special representative to Haiti and to South Africa. Before coming to the U.N., Brahimi, who represented the National Liberation Front in Tunis during Algeria’s 1956–1961 independence movement, was an Arab League official (1984–1991) and the Algerian Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1991 until 1993. Brahimi was also chair of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, which produced the influential Brahimi Report.

On a visit to Baghdad in April 2004 to help determine how and when Iraqi elections can be held, he said that the recent violence threatens to delay Iraqi national assembly elections—the national assembly is to pick the president and write a constitution.

"The elections scheduled to take place in January 2005 are the most important milestone," Brahimi said. "There is no substitute for the legitimacy that comes from free and fair elections."(Witter, 2004)

In May 2004, Brahimi was supposed to play a large advisory role in the appointment of candidates, which ended up selecting as Iraq’s new interim President and Prime Minister: Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer and Iyad Allawi, respectively. However, Brahimi expressed serious disappointment and frustration about his role. "Bremer is the dictator of Iraq, He has the money. He has the signature. … I will not say who was my first choice, and who was not my first choice … I will remind you that the Americans are governing this country." According to a person who spoke with him, "He was very disappointed, very frustrated," al Dulame said. "I asked him why he didn’t say that publicly (and) he said, `I am the U.N. envoy to Iraq, how can I admit to failure?’"Lasseter, Tom. , 3 June 2004. Accessed 15 June 2008. Brahimi announced his resignation, resulting from "great difficulties and frustration experienced during his assignment in Iraq", at the UN in New York on 12 June. While serving as the United Nations envoy to Iraq, he described Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians as "the big poison in the region". BBC NEWS, 23 April 2004

On 5 February, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon appointed Brahimi to lead a panel investigation on United Nations staff security in the wake of the December 11, 2007 Algiers bombings., BBC News, 6 February 2008. Accessed 15 June 2008. He was one of the founders of the French language Journal of Palestine Studies called La revue d’étude palestinienne.

On 17 August 2012, Brahimi was appointed by the United Nations as the new peace envoy to Syria, replacing Kofi Annan.

Personal life

Brahimi is fluent in Arabic, French and English. He is married and has three children. His daughter, Rym Brahimi, who was a CNN correspondent in Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq War, is married to Prince Ali of Jordan.