Lakhdar Brahimi

Lakhdar Brahimi
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
5 June 1991 – 3 February 1993
Prime Minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali
Belaid Abdessalam
Preceded by Sid Ahmed Ghozali
Succeeded by Redha Malek
United Nations and Arab League Envoy to Syria
In office
1 September 2012 – 31 May 2014
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (UN)
Nabil Elaraby (AL)
Preceded by Kofi Annan
Succeeded by Staffan de Mistura
Personal details
Born 1 January 1934
El Azizia, Algeria
Political party National Liberation Front
Children Rym
Alma mater University of Algiers
Religion Sunni Islam

Lakhdar Brahimi (Algerian pronunciation: [læxdˤɑr bræhiːmi]; Arabic: الأخضر الإبراهيمى‎; al-Akhḍar al-Ibrāhīmi; born 1 January 1934) is an Algerian United Nations diplomat, who served as the United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria until 14 May 2014.[1]

He is also a member of The Elders, a group of world leaders working for global peace.[2] 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 Centre 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.[3] He relinquished his post as UN Special Envoy to Syria on 31 May 2014.[4]

Early life and education

Brahimi was born in 1934 in El Azizia near Tablat, Algeria,[5] 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.[5]

Career

Brahimi (right) as the Algerian Ambassador to Egypt, shaking hands with Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian President, after presenting his credentials to the president, April 1963

Brahimi was the United Nations special representative for Afghanistan and Iraq. Before his appointment in 2001 by the 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 independence movement in 1956–1961, 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 threatened 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)

Brahimi suggested that the Iraq Interim Governing Council should be dissolved, and that most of its members should not have any role in the new government. Though the council was in fact dissolved early, some of its members will have major roles in the new government. The president, one of the two vice-presidents, and the prime minister are all from the council. Most prominently, his criticism of Ahmed Chalabi has led to Chalabi's claim that Brahimi is an Arab nationalist who should have no role in determining the future of Iraq. At the same time, close allies of Chalabi have been pushing claims that various world leaders and the UN took bribes from Saddam Hussein under the Oil for Food program.

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?'"[6] 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.[7] While serving as the United Nations envoy to Iraq, he described Israel's policy towards the Palestinians as "the big poison in the region".[8]

On 5 February 2008, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, appointed Brahimi to lead a panel investigation on United Nations staff security in the wake of the Algiers bombings of 11 December 2007.[9] 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.[10][11]

On 13 May 2014, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon announced that Brahimi would resign as the special envoy to Syria on 31 May 2014.[4]

Career history

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[13] awarded by the Fondation Chirac, a foundation which was launched in 2008 by the former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace.

Personal life

Brahimi is fluent in Arabic, French and English.[5] He is married and has three children.[5] His daughter, Rym Brahimi, who was a CNN correspondent in Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq War, is married to Prince Ali of Jordan.

References

  1. ↑ New York Times (14 May 2014). "U.N. Mediator on Syria Quits". Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Algeria's Brahimi could replace Annan". Australian Associated Press. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "SIPRI Governing Board". Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "UN Special Representative to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi resigns". Biharprabha. Indo-Asian News Service. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Profile: Lakhdar Brahimi". BBC. 3 September 2012.
  6. ↑ Lasseter, Tom. UN's Brahimi: Bremer the 'Dictator of Iraq' in Shaping Iraqi Government, 3 June 2004. Retrieved 15 June 2008.
  7. ↑ Shlomo Shamir (13 June 2004). "Brahimi quits post as UN envoy in Iraq". Haaretz. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  8. ↑ UN envoy condemns Israeli policy BBC News, 23 April 2004
  9. ↑ Algerian blasts suspects arrested, BBC News, 6 February 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2008.
  10. ↑ Gladstone, Rick (17 August 2012). "Veteran Algerian Statesman to Succeed Annan as Special Syrian Envoy". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  11. ↑ "UN: Algeria's Brahimi will replace Annan in Syria". Mail.com.
  12. ↑ Ian Black, Middle East editor. "UN looking for Syria envoy as Brahimi prepares to quit after failed peace talks". The Guardian.
  13. ↑ "Video on the 2010 Conflict Prevention Prize ceremony". Vimeo.com. 6 January 2011.

External links

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Political offices
Preceded by
Sid Ahmed Ghozali		 Minister of Foreign Affairs
1991–1993 		Succeeded by
Redha Malek
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Kofi Annan		 United Nations and Arab League Envoy to Syria
2012–2014 		Succeeded by
Staffan de Mistura