Lakhdar
Brahimi was an Algerian freedom fighter who has had a long and
distinguished career as a well-respected international negotiator.
He served his native country as Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Ambassador to several nations; the Arab community as an Arab League
official, where he helped to negotiate the end of the civil war
in Lebanon; and many posts as envoy and advisor with the United
Nations. As a UN official he helped to end conflicts and build
peace in a number of troubled nations. He oversaw the UN Observer
Mission during the 1994 election in South Africa when Nelson Mandela
was elected, and helped end Yemen's civil war that same year.
He oversaw the UN's work in Haiti and in many war-torn nations
in Africa. Lakhdar Brahimi led the UN's assistance mission in
Afghanistan after the Coalition forces began bombing Al-Qaeda
forces, and was the UN Special Envoy in Iraq after coalition forces
invaded and overthrew Saddam Hussein . Although he retired from
the United Nations in 2005, Lakhdar Brahimi has continued to be
active in building a more peaceful world. He worked with the Commission
on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, an international organization
collaborating with the UN Development Programme, to create strategies
for development initiatives to empower those living in poverty
by increasing their protections and rights. He was chosen as a
founding member of The Elders, an international group of the world's
leading social change advocates, and he is a member of the Global
Leadership Foundation, an international organization of retired
leaders, who share their knowledge and experience with today's
national leaders to improve the quality of their leadership.
