Mohamed ElBaradei
Mohamed ElBaradei محمد البرادعي | |
|---|---|
| File:Elbaradei.png | |
| 4th Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency | |
| Assumed office December 1, 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Hans Blix |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 17, 1942 Cairo, Egypt |
Mohamed ElBaradei (Arabic: محمد البرادعي) (born June 17, 1942) is an Egyptian diplomat and the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an inter-governmental organization under the auspices of the United Nations. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
Early career
ElBaradei earned a Bachelor's degree in law from the University of Cairo in 1962, followed by a Doctorate in International Law at the New York University School of Law in 1974. His diplomatic career began in 1964 in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign affairs, where he served in the Permanent Missions of Egypt to the United Nations in New York and in Geneva, in charge of political, legal, and arms control issues. From 1974 to 1978 he was a special assistant to the Egyptian Foreign Minister. In 1980, he became a senior fellow in charge of the international law program at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. From 1981 to 1987 he was also an Adjunct Professor of International Law at New York University School of Law.
In 1984, ElBaradei became a senior staff member of the IAEA Secretariat, serving as the agency's legal adviser (1984 to 1993) and Assistant Director General for External Relations (1993 to 1997).
ElBaradei is also a member of the International Law Association and the American Society of International Law. He is married to Aida Elkachef, a kindergarten teacher at Vienna International School, and has two children, Laila and Mostafa.
Controversy
ElBaradei began serving as the Director General for the IAEA on December 1, 1997, and is now well into his third 4-year term. However, a good deal of controversy surrounded his election to a third term, which was opposed primarily by the United States. The stated reason for the U.S. opposition was that it supported a limit of two terms for all heads of international organizations; however, it was reported that the U.S. opposition may have been motivated by other factors. ElBaradei had strongly questioned the U.S. rationale for the 2003 invasion of Iraq from the time of the 2002 Iraq disarmament crisis, when he, along with Hans Blix, led a team of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, seeking evidence that Saddam Hussein had revived his efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. ElBaradei and his team of inspectors could not determine the ultimate purpose of Saddam Hussein's regime's purchase of aluminum tubes which some claimed could be used for uranium centrifuges. After the Iraq War, the Iraq Survey Group determined that the best explanation for the tubes use was to produce conventional 81-mm rockets; no evidence was found of a program to design or develop an 81-mm aluminum rotor uranium centrifuge.[1]
ElBaradei had also revealed to the UN Security Council that sales of uranium from Niger to Iraq, which had been touted by numerous intelligence agencies as a key piece of evidence of Iraq's nuclear weapons ambitions may have been based on uncertified documents. The U.S. used several diplomatic channels in an attempt to remove ElBaradei's from his position as IAEA director, but however despite months of extensive behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts, the U.S. was not able to identify a sufficient number of other countries willing to support ElBaradei's ouster. In addition, no rival candidate could be found willing to compete against ElBaradei for Director General, although the U.S. tried to convince Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to run for the job (he declined). The decision of the IAEA board of governors was postponed through May 2005. [2]. On 9 June, after a meeting between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ElBaradei, the U.S. dropped its objections, and ElBaradei was unanimously re-appointed by the IAEA Board on 13 June. [3]
ElBaradei has also been accused by the US of having a lenient approach in dealing with Iran's nuclear program [4] in light of revelations that Iran had covered up substantial aspects of its nuclear program for nearly two decades, and Iran's insistence on continuing to develop uranium enrichment capability. ElBaradei and the IAEA have also been criticized for failing to detect the “nuclear supermarket” run by the Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan. [5]
October surprise
Eight days before the 2004 U.S. presidential election, ElBaradei informed the UN Security Council of reports by the Iraqi government about 377 tons of missing explosives in Iraq, apparently looted from Al Qa'qaa. The New York Times broke the story the same day. Some pundits referred to the IAEA report as an "October surprise" intended to influence the elections. What became clear, however, is that the Iraqi Minister of Science and Technology had written to ElBaradei on 10 October, reporting the explosives as missing due to theft and looting enabled by the lack of security. Within days after receiving the letter, the IAEA had informed the U.S. mission in Vienna, giving advance warning to the U.S. Government before making the required report to the Security Council. Various reports emerged in the days that followed, including a Pentagon source asserting that the U.S. military had removed 250 tons of explosives from the site just after the war began. For the complete sequence, see the Al Qa'qaa high explosives timeline.
2005 Nobel Peace Prize
On October 7 2005, ElBaradei and the IAEA itself were announced as joint recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for their "efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way," implicitly disavowing criticism of them since the second Allied-Iraqi Gulf war, and especially the failed U.S.-led attempt to deny ElBaradei a third term in office. ElBaradei donated all his winnings to building orphanages in his home city of Cairo. The IAEA's winnings are being spent on training scientists from developing countries to use nuclear techniques in combating cancer and malnutrition.
Other Awards
ElBaradei has received multiple awards for his work as an international civil servant. These include:
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award (2006).
The James Park Morton Interfaith Award.
The Golden Plate award from the American Academy of Achievement.
The Jit Trainor award from Georgetown University for distinction in the conduct of diplomacy.
The Human Security award from the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
The Prix de la Fondation award from the Crans Montana Forum.
The El Athir award, Algeria's highest national distinction.
The Golden Dove of Peace prize from the President of Italy.
In 2006, ElBaradei became an Honorary Patron of Trinity's University Philosophical Society, following in the foot steps of previous Nobel Peace Prize Winners Desmond Tutu and John Hume.
ElBaradei has also received honorary doctoral degrees from: New York University; the University of Maryland; the American University in Cairo; the Free Mediterranean University (LUM) in Bari, Italy; Soka University of Japan; Tsinghua University of Beijing, the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, and Konkuk University in Seoul.
The Government of Egypt has awarded ElBaradei the Greatest Nile Collar, the highest Egyptian civilian decoration.
Quotes
- In an interview with the BBC in May 2007, Dr ElBaradei gave one of his sternest warnings against using military action against Iran -a state signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Referring to "the extreme people who have extreme views" he said:
"...You do not want to give additional argument to some of the 'new crazies' who want to say let us go and bomb Iran"
His remarks are likely to be interpreted as a swipe at those who advocate a military strike against Iran.
- In an op-ed piece on the dangers of nuclear proliferation, in the New York Times (February 12, 2004), ElBaradei stated:
"We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction, yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security - and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use." [6]
- In the same article, in the New York Times (February 12, 2004), ElBaradei stated:
"If the world does not change course, we risk self-destruction." [7]
- ElBaradei explained to the Cairo Times (October 23, 2003):
"You remember that book called 'All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?' Well that's very much true. I find a lot in common in the way I manage things and the way she [Aida Elkachef] manages three-year olds. We humans are the same when we are three years old and when we are 50!" [8]
References
- ^ Iraq Survey Group (30 September 2004), Comprehensive Revised Report with Addendums on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (Duelfer Report), Volume 2, Nuclear section page 21 (PDF), Central Intelligence Agency, retrieved 2007-06-03
External links
- Full transcript of BBC's interview with Dr ElBaradei - May 2007 CASMII
- Washington intercepts ElBaradei phone calls for information to displace him
- IAEA - Director General's Corner
- Nobel Peace Prize Lecture video and transcript
- The Nobel Lecture The Nobel Lecture given by The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2005, Mohamed ElBaradei
- The 2005 Nobel Peace Prize - A Photoessay by Scott London
- http://www.law.nyu.edu/pubs/magazine/autumn2006/documents/ElBaradei.pdf
- New York Times: An Indispensable Irritant to Iran and Its Foes, 17 Sept 2007. Article that discusses the controversial role ElBaradei plays between a possibly nuclear Iran and a suspicious West.