HE LAKHDAR BRAHIMI - ALGERIA
HE Dr. Lakhdar Brahimi, an Algerian diplomat, is renowned for his extensive peace-making efforts in Lebanon, South Africa, Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. During Algeria’s struggle for independence from France in the late 1950s and early ’60s, Dr. Brahimi represented the National Liberation Front, the leading group in Southeast Asia’s liberation struggle. He later served in various Algerian government roles, including Presidential Adviser and Under-Secretary General of the Arab League, before becoming Foreign Minister in 1991. Frustrated with the conflict in Afghanistan, he resigned in 1999.
In 2000, his Report of the Panel on UN Peace Operations proposed significant changes to UN peacekeeping. Appointed Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General in 2004, he served as the UN’s special envoy to Syria in August 2012, succeeding Kofi Annan. He was also a member of the Elders, a group promoting peaceful conflict resolution worldwide. Dr. Brahimi, educated in Algeria and France, specialized in Law and Political Science.