United Nations: Former Algerian foreign affairs minister Lakhdar Brahimi is a strong candidate to replace Kofi Annan as peace envoy to Syria, diplomats have said. Diplomats who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly said that Brahimi was a strong possibility, while other contenders are ex-Spanish foreign affairs minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Spain’s Javier Solana, a former NATO chief and European Union foreign policy head.
Brahimi, 78, served as Algeria’s foreign minister from 1991-93 and brought his diplomatic skills and reputation as a tough negotiator to the United Nations in 1994, where he served in a variety of high-profile posts, including as an envoy in Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq, until he retired in 2005. He is a member of the Elders, a group of world leaders working for global peace that includes Nelson Mandela. Amongst many of his achievements, he played a major role in Iraq by helping put together the interim government that took power on June 30, 2004, following the U.S.-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein. (AP)