Background
Brahimi, Lakhdar was born on January 1, 1934 in Algeria.
Brahimi, Lakhdar was born on January 1, 1934 in Algeria.
Educated at a French school in Algiers where Arabic was taught well.
Leading diplomat with a direct line to the President who often uses him for special missions in the Arab world where he is held in high esteem.
Ever since his days as a nationalist student in Paris he has been absorbed in politics. He became so dedicated to the political struggle for self-determination as a founder-member of the General Union of Algerian Moslem Students (UGEMA) that he did not stay the course to graduate. After years of exile during the struggle for independence he played an important, formative role in building up the Foreign Ministry in Algiers. He has also been instrumental in making Algeria’s voice increasingly listened to in Arab capitals as a result of seven years in Cairo.
His first political assignment was to Cairo early in 1956 as special representative of the National Liberation Front (FLN). In May 1956 he was transferred to Djakarta as permanent representative for South-East Asia. He travelled a lot to Malaya, Singapore, Burma and Cambodia and learned English without a trace of an accent, plus Malay and Indonesian. In 1961 he was called back to serve in Cairo and Tunis. He went to the non-aligned conference at Belgrade with the Algerian delegation.
At independence in July 1962 he returned to Algiers for the first time for seven years. He was one of the handful of experts assigned to organise the Foreign Service of the new republic and he accompanied Ben Bella to Washington in October 1962. His specialisation in Afro-Asian affairs kept him very busy. He was also concerned with assistance to liberation movements and carried out an investigation into the Angolan nationalists in a visit to Kinshasa.
In March 1963 he was appointed Ambassador to Egypt and the Sudan, residing at Cairo, taking part in Arab League meetings and going on special missions to Arab leaders. In May 1970 he returned to Algiers and worked at the Foreign Ministry until his appointment as Ambassador in London a year later. His liaison with the North Vietnamese and the Chinese made him a very important figure. President Boumedienne’s trust in him was indicated by his temporary recall from London in February 1973 to undertake soundings in Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Tunis and Tripoli.
Founding member The Elders, since 2007, a group of world leaders working for global peace
Stockholm International Peace Research Institut , Sweden
Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics and Political Science , U.K.
Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor
Global Leadership Foundation
An intellectual with a soft voice, an elegant style of stating a case, a cynical sense of humour, and a rare talent for languages, speaking English, Malay and Indonesian as well as French and Arabic. A man of modesty and manners, destined to go far beyond diplomacy.
He was born into a prosperous family in Algeria. He is married and has three children.His daughter, Rym Brahimi, who was a CNN correspondent in Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq War, is married to Prince Ali of Jordan.