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Former U.N. Official Covers the Globe |
Photo: Lakhdar Brahimi speaking to reporters. © Marty Luster
by Marty Luster
ITHACA, NY - A former U.N. Under-Secretary-General, Special Advisor to the Secretary General and all around trouble shooter spoke to reporters at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University on a wide range of international issues in early March.
Lakhdar Brahimi, who retired from his U.N. posts in December 2005, told the group of mostly student reporters that the U.N. continues to have a vital role in international conflict resolution and peacekeeping. He expressed the fear that the U.N. is increasingly seen as "too close" to the United States and that the U.N.'s future as a peacekeeper depends upon its ability to maintain and demonstrate its independence, in fact as well as in appearance.
"We can achieve our peacekeeping mission in one of two ways," he said. “We can come with guns or we can talk to them. When dealing with a conflict, you have to talk to the bad guys,” even if a powerful nation opposes that conversation, Brahimi said.
Ambassador Brahimi, who also served as the Algerian Foreign Minister, addressed questions concerning many of the world's hot spots, including Haiti, Taiwan and China, and the breakaway republics of the former Soviet Union. However, he directed most of his comment to the situations in Afghanistan and Iraq, drawing a sharp distinction between the two.
Following 9/11, Brahimi said, the legitimacy of the American reaction and subsequent presence in Afghanistan has not been seriously questioned. To the contrary, much of the world seriously questions the legitimacy of the U.S. presence in Iraq, and the U.N.'s recognition of the U.S. in Iraq has created "huge problems" for the international body. As a result, he said, rebuilding in Afghanistan is proceeding "as well as can be expected. In Iraq, on the other hand, the lack of security, corruption and enormous costs have stymied the rebuilding effort."
ITHACA, NY - A former U.N. Under-Secretary-General, Special Advisor to the Secretary General and all around trouble shooter spoke to reporters at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University on a wide range of international issues in early March.
Lakhdar Brahimi, who retired from his U.N. posts in December 2005, told the group of mostly student reporters that the U.N. continues to have a vital role in international conflict resolution and peacekeeping. He expressed the fear that the U.N. is increasingly seen as "too close" to the United States and that the U.N.'s future as a peacekeeper depends upon its ability to maintain and demonstrate its independence, in fact as well as in appearance.
"We can achieve our peacekeeping mission in one of two ways," he said. “We can come with guns or we can talk to them. When dealing with a conflict, you have to talk to the bad guys,” even if a powerful nation opposes that conversation, Brahimi said.
Ambassador Brahimi, who also served as the Algerian Foreign Minister, addressed questions concerning many of the world's hot spots, including Haiti, Taiwan and China, and the breakaway republics of the former Soviet Union. However, he directed most of his comment to the situations in Afghanistan and Iraq, drawing a sharp distinction between the two.
Following 9/11, Brahimi said, the legitimacy of the American reaction and subsequent presence in Afghanistan has not been seriously questioned. To the contrary, much of the world seriously questions the legitimacy of the U.S. presence in Iraq, and the U.N.'s recognition of the U.S. in Iraq has created "huge problems" for the international body. As a result, he said, rebuilding in Afghanistan is proceeding "as well as can be expected. In Iraq, on the other hand, the lack of security, corruption and enormous costs have stymied the rebuilding effort."
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