Osama El-Baz

Osama El-Baz (listen ; Egyptian Arabic: أسامة الباز‎) (6 July 1931 – 14 September 2013)[1] was an Egyptian diplomat and a senior advisor to former President Hosni Mubarak.

Osma El-Baz
أسامة الباز
Osama El-Baz at Camp David in 1978
Ambassador
In office
1977–1981
Prime MinisterAnwar El Sadat
Preceded byIsmail Fahmi
Advisor
In office
1981 – ?
PresidentHosni Mubarak
Personal details
Born(1931-07-06)6 July 1931
Tokh Al Aqlam, El Senbellawein, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt
Died14 September 2013(2013-09-14) (aged 82)
Cairo, Egypt
Alma materCairo University
Harvard Law School

Career

A graduate from Cairo University, he studied for six years in the United States, where he obtained his master's degree from Harvard Law School.[2]

El-Baz later joined the Egyptian foreign service, and was made chef de cabinet with ambassadorial rank in 1977. When Ismail Fahmi resigned in 1977 to protest President Anwar El Sadat's visit to Jerusalem, El-Baz volunteered to help the president in planning his negotiations with Israel. He was sent to Israel where he negotiated the terms for the Egyptian President's visit. His colleague in those preparations was Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who later went on to become Secretary-General of the United Nations. El-Baz represented the Arab nationalist, while Boutros-Ghali was a cautious pro-Westerner.

Following Sadat's assassination in 1981, Egypt's new president Hosni Mubarak took El-Baz as an advisor, where he headed the Presidential Office for Political Affairs.

El-Baz was considered an éminence grise,[3] and was more influential than most members of the Cabinet, especially in foreign-policy matters. He was sent on sensitive missions which would be inappropriate for the Foreign Minister to undertake.

According to Al-Ahram, he was sidelined during the last years of the Hosni Mubarak regime. El-Baz was even spotted during the 18-day Tahrir Square sit-in in January 2011, at the start of the Arab Spring.[4]

Osama El-Baz is the late father of Egyptian industrialist, entrepreneur, and business executive Basil El-Baz, as well as a brother to famed NASA geologist Farouk El-Baz.

Personal life

Osama El-Baz has 8 siblings, they are: Mohammed El-Baz, Isam El-Baz, Farouk El-Baz, Laila El-Baz, Soraya El-Baz, Safa El-Baz, Hazim El-Baz and Nabeel El-Baz. Mohammed being the oldest and Nabeel being the youngest.

References
  • "Profile - Osama Al Baz". APS Review Gas Market Trends. 2004-01-26. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  1. "Saudi Gazette/ Home Page". www.saudigazette.com.sa. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  2. https://today.law.harvard.edu/in-memoriam-3/
  3. D'Alpuget, Blanche (2010) Hawke: The Prime Minister, Melbourne University Publishing, p. 367
  4. "Prominent diplomat Osama El-Baz dies at 82 - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online". english.ahram.org.eg. Retrieved 26 February 2018.


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