Lakhdar Brahimi

Lakhdar Brahimi (Former Under Secretary General and Special Adviser of the Secretary General of the United Nations; Former Foreign Minister for Algeria)

"Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi was appointed Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in January 2004 and retired in December 2005. As Special Adviser, he advised the Secretary-General on a wide range of issues, including situations in the areas of conflict prevention and conflict resolution. He served the UN in Afghanistan as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission where he was entrusted with overall authority for the political, human rights, relief, recovery and reconstruction activities of the United Nations in Afghanistan.

"Mr. Brahimi was also the Under-Secretary-General for Special Assignments in Support of the Secretary-General’s Preventive and Peacemaking efforts. In this capacity, he chaired an independent panel established by Kofi Annan to review United Nations peace operations. The report, released by the panel in 2000 and known as the “Brahimi Report”, assessed the shortcomings of the existing system of peacekeeping and made specific recommendations for change, focusing on politics, strategy and operational and organizational areas of need.

"Additionally, Mr. Brahimi served as UN Special Representative for South Africa (1993-1994). In this position he led the United Nations Observer Mission until the 1994 democratic elections that resulted in Nelson Mandela taking the presidency of post-apartheid South Africa. He also served the UN in Haiti, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Yemen, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan, and Iraq.

"Mr. Brahimi was the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Algeria from 1991 to 1993 and Diplomatic Adviser to the President of Algeria from 1982 to 1984. He was awarded four Honorary Doctorates from the American University of Beirut, Oxford University, the University of Nice and the University of Bologna. Today Mr. Brahimi gives lectures all over the world and is involved in several leading panels including, the Commission on Legal Empowerment for the Poor and the Elders council."


 * Trustee, UNITAR
 * Advisory Board, International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy
 * Advisory Council, Carnegie Middle East Center
 * Director, International Crisis Group
 * Director, Global Humanitarian Forum
 * Trustee (2001-), Institute for Palestine Studies
 * Former Trustee, 21st Century Trust
 * Member, Global Leadership Foundation
 * Member, The Elders
 * Advisory Board, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies

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