Lakhdar Brahimi

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Lakhdar Brahimi

Lakhdar Brahimi ( Arabic الأخضر الإبراهيمي al-Achdar al-Ibrahimi , DMG al-Aḫḍar al-Ibrāhīmī ; *  January 1, 1934 in Aziza ) is an Algerian diplomat and former politician . From September 2012 to the end of May 2014 he was the United Nations and Arab League's special envoyfor Syria .

Life

Training and diplomatic activity for Algeria and the Arab League

Lakhdar Brahimi comes from a family of dignitaries and studied law and political science in France and his home country Algeria . Brahimi was politically active for the National Liberation Front (FLN) in Algeria from 1956 to 1961 and was its representative for Southeast Asia in Jakarta from 1956 to 1961 . After Algeria's independence, Brahimi embarked on a diplomatic career. From 1963 to 1970 he was the Algerian ambassador to Sudan and Egypt and at the same time permanent representative to the Arab League in Cairo .

After heading the Algerian embassy in Great Britain (1971–1979), Brahimi returned to his home country. He became a member of the FLN Central Committee (1979–1984) and served from 1982 to 1984 as diplomatic advisor to President Chadli Bendjedid . In his work as Assistant Secretary General of the Arab League from 1984 to 1991, he successfully acted as a mediator in the Lebanese Civil War (1989–1991), which established Brahimi's reputation as a capable mediator in sensitive political situations. In 1991 he returned to Algeria and was Foreign Minister from 1991 to 1993. Following the resignation of Prime Minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali , Brahimi was recalled shortly afterwards and replaced by Redha Malek .

Diplomatic beginnings at the United Nations

From 1994 to 1996 Brahimi was the UN special envoy in Haiti , South Africa , Zaire and Yemen . In recent years he has worked successfully on behalf of the United Nations for negotiated solutions in numerous trouble spots.

From 1997 to 1999 he was the first UN special envoy for Afghanistan .

In 2000, in his “Brahimi Report”, he analyzed the reasons for the failure of many UN peace missions. The report is characterized by a previously unknown openness. The first paragraph rightly stated: “The United Nations was founded to (...) save future generations from the scourge of war. Accepting this challenge is the most important task of the Organization, and by it the peoples whom the United Nations serve will also measure the Organization’s achievements in significant ways. Over the past decade, the United Nations has repeatedly failed to meet this challenge, and the situation is no better today. "

From 2001 he was again in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan conference at Bonn's Petersberg at the end of 2001 and with it the establishment of the interim government under Hamid Karzai goes back to him .

2004–2006 in Iraq

Since January 2004 he has been working as a UN special envoy in Iraq .

On April 27, 2004, Brahimi announced to the United Nations Security Council plans to appoint a transitional government by the end of May 2004 and the roadmap for handing over power from the United States to the Iraqis. The members of the Security Council welcomed the proposals. Brahimi described the severe clashes in Fallujah as extremely worrying .

Transitional Government and National Assembly

In the last week of May 2004, he negotiated with the Iraqi government council and the US civil administration under Paul Bremer about the future five-person head of state who should take power in Iraq after June 30th. On June 1, 2004, Brahimi Adnan Patschatschi nominated as provisional president. When the latter refused, however, the Sunni Sheikh the Shammar, Ghazi al-Yawar , was appointed President and Ibrahim al-Jafari (Shiite) and Rodsch Nuri Shawais (Kurd) as his deputies , in coordination with the Transitional Council. Prime Minister was Iyad Allawi (Shiite) and Deputy Prime Minister Barham Sali (Kurd).

In July 2004, the entire Iraqi interim government had to face the vote of confidence in a national assembly of around 60 people. This was built up by Brahimi in countless contacts with political and religious groups following the pattern of the Afghan Loja Jirga .

Brahimi also participated in the last negotiations of the UN Security Council on Iraq Resolution No. 1546 . On June 8, 2004, an amended US draft was passed unanimously, according to which the Iraqi interim government controls the oil policy and has a say in relation to the western occupation forces, whose whereabouts are limited in time ("security partnership").

From Iraq to Sudan and Syria

On January 1, 2006, Brahimi retired at the age of 72, but was reactivated in the same year because of the Darfur crisis and posted to Sudan.

After Kofi Annan resigned his mandate as special envoy of the UN and Arab League for Syria due to a lack of progress , Brahimi was presented as his successor on August 17, 2012. He officially took office on September 1, 2012. In mid-May 2014, Ban announced that Brahimi would step down from the post at the end of the month. The reasons are the delay in the Geneva peace talks by the Syrian regime and that according to observers' assessments the co-negotiating opposition parties are losing more and more influence on the warfare dominated by Islamists.

family

Lakhdar Brahimi is married and has three children. He is fluent in Arabic, English and French. His daughter Rym Ali is married to the Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein .

Awards

Quotes

“We don't organize elections well. Not only do we usually hold them too early, we also spend too much money on it. If Indonesia holds an election, it will cost the government about $ 1.30 per vote. If we organize an election in Afghanistan it will cost eight dollars a vote. That needs to change."

- Lakhdar Brahimi : FAZ interview from June 6, 2006

Web links

Commons : Lakhdar Brahimi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Secretary-General Announces Appointment of Lakhdar Brahimi as Joint Arab League-United Nations Special Representative for Syria at un.org, August 17, 2012 (accessed August 18, 2012).
  2. ↑ a b Sarre, Claudia: Brahimi takes on the job as UN special envoy for Syria: The man for conflicts and crises should fix it at tagesschau.de, September 1, 2012 (accessed September 1, 2012).
  3. ^ A b Sarre, Claudia: Two years after taking office: Syria mediator Brahimi gives up ( memento from May 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) at tagesschau.de, May 13, 2014 (accessed on May 14, 2014).
  4. ↑ a b c Lakhdar Brahimi . In: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 33/2004 from August 14, 2004, supplemented by news from MA-Journal up to week 50/20 (accessed via Munzinger Online ).
  5. ^ Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations . (accessed on August 23, 2013)
  6. ↑ United Nations: Brahimi to be the new Syria special mediator at Spiegel Online , August 17, 2012 (accessed on August 18, 2012).
  7. ↑ Lakhdar Brahimi . In: World who's who: Europa biographical reference . London: Routledge, 2002 (accessed August 18, 2012 via worldwhoswho.com).
personal data
SURNAME Brahimi, Lakhdar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Algerian politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Aziza