Lakhdar Brahimi
Encyclopedia
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Lakhdar Brahimi (born January 1, 1934 in Algeria
) is a veteran United Nations
envoy and advisor. He retired from his duties at the end of 2005. 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.http://www.g-l-f.org/pagebuilder.asp?id=239. Mr. Brahimi is currently a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics and Political Science. http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/global/events.htm and a governing board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
He 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 Jakarta
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. Mr. Brahimi was educated in Algeria
and France (law
and political science
), and is fluent in Arabic
, English and French. Brahimi is married with three children. His daughter, Reem (also spelled Rym), who was a CNN
Correspondent in Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq War
, is married to Prince Ali of Jordan. Lakhdar Brahimi was also chair of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, which produced the influential Brahimi Report
http://www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_operations/.
On a visit to Baghdad
in April 2004 to help determine how and when Iraq
i 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.
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?'" 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. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/438248.html While serving as the United Nations envoy to Iraq
he described Israel
as "the big poison in the region."
On February 5, 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
.
He was one of the founder of the French language of the Journal of Palestine Studies
called La revue d'étude palestinienne.
Lakhdar Brahimi (born January 1, 1934 in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
) is a veteran United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
envoy and advisor. He retired from his duties at the end of 2005. Brahimi is a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor
Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor
The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor was an independent international organization, hosted by the United Nations Development Programme , and established in 2005 as the “first global initiative to focus on the link between exclusion, poverty, and the law.” Drawing upon three years of...
, 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
Global Leadership Foundation
The Global Leadership Foundation is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 2004 by former State President of South Africa and Nobel Prize laureate F.W. de Klerk....
, an organization which works to promote good governance around the world.http://www.g-l-f.org/pagebuilder.asp?id=239. Mr. Brahimi is currently a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics and Political Science. http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/global/events.htm and a governing board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
He was the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
special representative for Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Before his appointment in 2001 by Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, he had served the U.N. as special representative to Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
and to South Africa. Before coming to the U.N., Brahimi, who represented the National Liberation Front
Front de Libération Nationale
Front de Libération Nationale may refer to:* National Liberation Front , a socialist political party founded in 1954 for independence from France for Algeria...
in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
during Algeria's 1956–1961 independence movement, was an Arab League
Arab League
The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a...
official (1984–1991) and the Algerian Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1991 until 1993. Mr. Brahimi was educated in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
and France (law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
), and is fluent in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, English and French. Brahimi is married with three children. His daughter, Reem (also spelled Rym), who was a CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
Correspondent in Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq War
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
, is married to Prince Ali of Jordan. Lakhdar Brahimi was also chair of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, which produced the influential Brahimi Report
Report of the Panel on United Nations Peacekeeping
The Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations is commonly called the Brahimi Report, named for the chairman of the commission that produced it, Lakhdar Brahimi...
http://www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_operations/.
On a visit to Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
in April 2004 to help determine how and when Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i 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," Mr. 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
Ahmed Chalabi
Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi is an Iraqi politician. He was interim oil minister in Iraq in April-May 2005 and December-January 2006 and deputy prime minister from May 2005 until May 2006. Chalabi failed to win a seat in parliament in the December 2005 elections, and when the new Iraqi cabinet was...
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
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
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
President of Iraq
The President of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq and "safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq's independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." The President is elected by the Council of...
and Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Iraq
The Prime Minister of Iraq is Iraq's head of government. Prime Minister was originally an appointed office, subsidiary to the head of state, and the nominal leader of the Iraqi parliament. Under the newly adopted constitution the Prime Minister is to be the country's active executive authority...
: Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer
Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer
Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawar is an Iraqi political figure. He was a Vice President of Iraq under the Iraqi Transitional Government from 2005 to 2006, and was Acting President of Iraq under the Iraqi Interim Government from 2004 to 2005....
and Iyad Allawi
Iyad Allawi
Ayad Allawi is an Iraqi politician, and was the interim Prime Minister of Iraq prior to Iraq's 2005 legislative elections. A prominent Iraqi political activist who lived in exile for almost 30 years, the politically secular Shia Muslim became a member of the Iraq Interim Governing Council, which...
, 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?'" 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. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/438248.html While serving as the United Nations envoy to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
he described Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
as "the big poison in the region."
On February 5, 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
December 11, 2007 Algiers bombings
There were two near simultaneous bombings in Algiers which occurred on 11 December 2007 when two car bombs exploded 10 minutes apart starting at around 9:30 a.m. local time, in the Algerian capital Algiers...
.
He was one of the founder of the French language of the Journal of Palestine Studies
Journal of Palestine Studies
The Journal of Palestine Studies is an academic journal established in 1971. It is published and distributed by University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies. The current editor is Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University....
called La revue d'étude palestinienne.
External links
- Profile: Lakhdar Brahimi at BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 25 May 2004 - Willis Witter (April 15, 2004). Al-Sadr agrees to talks with U.S. The Washington TimesThe Washington TimesThe Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
. - UN Biography for Lakhdar Brahimi, January 2004
- Veteran UN envoy and adviser Lakhdar Brahimi to retire at end of year, 20 December 2005