Lakhdar Brahimi
Lakhdar Brahimi
Lakhdar Brahimiis an Algerian United Nations diplomat who served as the United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria until 14 May 2014. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria from 1991 to 1993...
NationalityAlgerian
ProfessionPublic Servant
Date of Birth1 January 1934
CountryAlgeria
father mother passed sorry uneducated
Not much, I'm sorry to say, because my father passed away when I was very young. I was eleven, and my mother was a simple, uneducated peasant.
afghans against help past ten trying un wars
For the past ten years the UN has been trying to help the Afghans end their wars against one another, but we have been unsuccessful.
against high neighbors powers realize seem time work
However, it does seem now that the international community, more importantly the powers that have influence, and, even more importantly, Afghanistan's neighbors realize that it is high time that they work together, and not against one another.
people injustice rise-against
Probably I understand very much the people who rise against injustice.
country land afghanistan
Afghanistan is a land-locked country.
break-up country people
The events of September 11 and what has happened since have made people understand that even a small, distant and far away country like Afghanistan cannot be left to break up into anarchy and chaos without consequences for the whole world.
strong people empathy
There is also a natural and very, very strong empathy with the underdog, with people who have suffered, people who have been pushed around by foreigners in particular, but also by their own people.
stupid west facts
At times one feels that what is being said in the West is that the fact that you are a Muslim predisposes you to this blind, stupid terrorism.
blow talking people
If you are talking about terrorism, you need to sit down and understand what is making these people put dynamite around their waists and blow themselves up.
moral authority unesco
Of course the UN brings in a lot of moral authority.
giving community troops
In Rwanda that genocide happened because the international community and the Security Council refused to give, again, another 5000 troops which would have cost, I don't know, maybe fifty, a hundred, million dollars.
respect moving ideas
In the globalized world that is ours, maybe we are moving towards a global village, but that global village brings in a lot of different people, a lot of different ideas, lots of different backgrounds, lots of different aspirations.
country bravery everyday
There is a story which is not being told strongly enough of the Afghan employees of the UN inside the country who are saving hundreds of thousands of lives everyday by their bravery and nobody talks of them.
meaningful country community
But you are absolutely right that when the international community decides to help in a meaningful manner a country like Afghanistan, then coordination between the various actors that are involved in these processes is very, very difficult indeed.