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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A writer and diplomat
Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ghani
By Rehab Saad
(Abdel-Hamid El-Katib)
(1917-2000)
Journalist and former diplomat Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ghani, also known as Abdel-Hamid El-Katib, died on Monday of a sudden heart attack at the age of 82.
Abdel-Ghani, a graduate of the Faculty of Commerce and the Press Institute, gained fame in the 1940s as a reporter for Akhbar Al-Youm. He used the pen name of Abdel-Hamid El-Katib (the writer).
Abdel-Ghani later worked for the Foreign Ministry as an ambassador and served as a member of Egypt's delegation to the United Nations and as head of the UN Committee for Outer Space. His diplomatic career continued until 1974. After his retirement, he returned to Egypt to become deputy board chairman and editor-in-chief of Akhbar Al-Youm.
The 12 years Abdel-Ghani spent in the United Nations were very fruitful. In March 1962, he became secretary of the UN Special Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, four months after its establishment. In May of the same year, he became head of the first UN secretariat to deal with space matters. By this time, he was chief of the outer space affairs section in the department of political and security affairs.
This section grew into an outer space affairs division branching into two sections; one on space applications and the other on committee service reports and research. The staff swelled to 11 professional civil servants and six secretaries.
Under Abdel-Ghani's leadership, the space unit proposed and planned a UN conference on the peaceful uses of outer space, organised panels, seminars and workshops on the subject and kept a public registry of satellite launchings and manned space flights reported by the Soviet Union, the United States and others using their facilities.
In 1983, the UN chose Abdel-Ghani, due to his long experience in the field of outer space affairs, to be counsellor to an outer space conference that was held in August of the same year.
In 1984, he became a member of Ibrahim Shoukri's Labour Party and, in 1991, was elected chairman of the Association of Human Rights Advocates.
Throughout his journalistic career, Abdel-Ghani published many books. The latest of these, Al-Quds (Jerusalem), published in 1996, deals with the history of the holy city since the Muslim conquest, covering the crusades and the victory of Salaheddin Al-Ayyoubi (Saladin), peacemaking with the crusaders and the contemporary Israeli occupation of Jerusalem.
Al-Ahram Weekly offers condolences to Abdel-Ghani's family, especially to his son, Alaa, who is a dear colleague.
