The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs and the Bill and Sally Hambrecht distinguished Peacemakers Lecture Series at AUB held a lecture entitled "Making and Keeping the Peace: Reflections on UN Experiences in the Middle East and Afghanistan" by Lakhdar Brahimi, former Algerian Foreign Minister and UN Mediator and Special Envoy. Lakhdar Brahimi retired from national service in 1993 and started a new career as an international diplomat and mediator working mainly for the UN until the end of 2005. He is a member of "The Elders", a Group of elder Statesmen and personalities created in July 2007, at the initiative of Nelson Mandela. In 1988/1990, he helped mediate the end of the 17-year civil war in Lebanon on behalf of a High Level Committee of the League of Arab States, which resulted in the "Ta'if Agreement". Brahimi has served as UN Secretary General Special Envoy and mediator in Afghanistan, South Africa and Iraq, where he helped mediate the historic national transitions in those countries. He has also chaired an independent panel established by then Secretary-General Annan to review UN Peace Operations. This report was endorsed by the "Millennium Summit", held in September 2000, and became known as the "Brahimi Report".
