Lakhdar Brahimi Quotations

Be modest, be respectful of others, try to understand.

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.

What again I tell my people is that no matter how much you know, it's never enough. You will always discover, after the fact, that you've missed something.

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.

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.

There is a firm, clear commitment to provide resources and ideas to enable us to organize the Afghans towards starting the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction.

So, the international community are all the countries that are important: the United States definitely everywhere; the European Union because it is very important, and also, they do show a great deal of international responsibility; and then the local players.

People now realize that globalization is not only for the multi-nationals and the circulation of money.

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.

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.

A fly cannot go in unless it stops somewhere; therefore weapons, fuel, food, money will not go to Afghanistan unless the neighbors of Afghanistan are working, are cooperating, either being themselves the origin or the transit.

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.

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.

There is an expression now that is commonly used about these so-called internal conflicts which are not really internal, because they have connections to the outside world.

Of course the UN brings in a lot of moral authority.

Probably I understand very much the people who rise against injustice.

To leave Afghanistan as a playground for terrorists and adventurers was simply not possible anymore.

When you go from one place to another, you go with experience, you don't go with prescriptions.

But you've got to understand what the other guy is about, even if at the end of the process you decide that there is no ground with this man or woman except to fight them.

Iraq is a country that has been invaded. It's not a failing state that you want to help. It's a country that was functioning good or bad, with a horrible dictator, but you have invaded.

You are dealing with people who have taken the responsibility of killing their own because they think that they are right, they think that they are serving the interests of their people. They not going to give that up easily, just because you've shown up.

I think a failed state is the responsibility of the people who have made that state fail, and those are generally the people of that country.

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.

Somebody was asking me the other day - President Bush is now talking about freedom for the Arab world. I say, well, that's great. I was talking about that fifty years ago.

Several million people inside and outside Afghanistan are destitute and desperately in need of help.

There is no question of that. No one has asked and we are not looking for a job.

There again, that is a fundamental principle: no two situations are alike.

men and women known for their honesty, integrity and competence.

He has got enough room, not very large, but he has created some room for himself in a very delicate situation. Everybody should help him to get it to work,

The people we have met are at least asking themselves questions, at the very, very least. I think they are looking for a consensus.

What we are suggesting here has the merit of enjoying the support of many Iraqis with whom we have met, and is reasonably simple and straightforward,

What we have learned from that struggle is the importance of freedom, the importance of mobilization, the importance of justice, equality, and so on.

have every reason to be proud of what you have achieved.

There is an element of luck, there is an element of trial and error, sometimes you fail, sometimes you succeed. It's not as beautifully simple as it may seem when we are talking about it.

It also seems that the Afghans themselves want to avail themselves of this opportunity and all recognize that the UN is uniquely qualified to help bring them together.

I think we are pointing out to them that perhaps the evaluations of the time that is needed, the conditions that need to be fulfilled, are not accurate, and they are listening to us.

I think they want support from the U.N.. They think the U.N. has a role to play in helping them understand these problems and also in working out compromises and concerns amongst themselves.

It is evident that the United Nations cannot, has no means, is not present on the ground and simply cannot possibly accede to this request.

There are growing pressures on us -- in part from the donor community -- to say there is a limit to what you can stand.

we will have to put our heads together to see what to do.

Though it will certainly not be easy, we do believe that it shall be possible to identify, by the end of May, a group of people respected and acceptable to Iraqis across the country, to form this caretaker government.

Bremer is the dictator of Iraq. He had the money. He has the signature. Nothing happens without his agreement in this country.

I understand even the excesses that can happen once you start fighting against injustice, not to condone it but to understand how you get there.

The sooner a credible Iraqi government is in place to lead the way, the better, especially because the absence of such a sovereign government is part of the problem in the first place,

or let us go and work somewhere else. There are other areas where help is needed.

This incident, which follows similar incidents, adds to a sense of insecurity and fear in the country,

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.

But I knew that what had happened was an eye-opener not only to the United States but also to Pakistan, who realized that after what has happened on the 11th of September, it was simply impossible to continue to play those games in Afghanistan.

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.

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.

Afghanistan is a land-locked country.

The third point is that for some time the UN has been talking about helping Afghanistan in the reconstruction of the country but there has never been any real commitment by the international community to provide resources for that.

The elections scheduled to take place by January 2005 are the most important milestone in this process. Until that time, any Iraqi governing body that exists will be less than fully representative,

You who are taking this responsibility must show unprecedented courage and leadership. You must place the interests of your people first above all other concerns only then will this process, this attempt to break cycle of misery and destitution conflict and violence stand a chance of success,

The days and weeks ahead will severely test this new government, and the solution to Iraq's current challenges will take years, not months, to overcome.

The mandate you go with is intimidating and also is a source of respect that you gain, because you have come with this mandate from the United Nations.

The job is do-able, as long as we set principled but realistic targets, moving toward them with deliberate steps, and if we are not alone as we take them. We will need, in particular, the Security Council to be united behind us, and with us.