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Mohamed ElBaradei محمد البرادعي
4th Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency
Incumbent
Assumed office  December 1, 1997
Preceded by	Hans Blix
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	June 17, 1942 (1942-06-17) (age 65) Cairo, Egypt
Nationality	Egyptian

Mohamed ElBaradei (Arabic: محمد البرادعي, transliteration: Muḥammad al-Barādaʿī) (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.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Views & Controversies 3 Response to Kouchner Statement on Iran 4 2005 Nobel Peace Prize 5 Other Awards 6 Quotes 7 References 8 External links

ElBaradei earned a Bachelor's degree in law from the University of Cairo in 1962, followed by a DEA degree in International Law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies HEI in Geneva and a Ph.D in International Law at the New York University School of Law in 1974. His diplomatic career began in 1964 in the Egyptian Ministry of External 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.

ElBaradei began serving as Director General of the IAEA on December 1, 1997. Controversy surrounded his election to a third four-year term in 2005, which was opposed primarily by the United States. The stated reason was that the U.S. favoured a limit of two terms for all heads of international organizations; however, 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. ElBaradei told the UN Security Council in March 2003 that documents purporting to show that Iraq had tried to acquire uranium from Niger were not authentic. The U.S. failed to win enough support from other countries to oust ElBaradei. 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 U.S. of having a lenient approach in dealing with Iran's nuclear program [4] after revelations that Iran had covered up substantial aspects of its nuclear program for nearly two decades and was continuing to develop a uranium enrichment capability. ElBaradei´s response is that he works strictly within the mandate given to him by Member States. ElBaradei and the IAEA have also been criticized for failing to detect the “nuclear supermarket” run by the Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan. [5]

In November 2007 Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz called for ElBaradei to be sacked, saying "The policies followed by ElBaradei endanger world peace. His irresponsible attitude of sticking his head in the sand over Iran's nuclear programme should lead to his impeachment." [6]

In December 2007, a new U.S. National Intelligence Estimate concluded that there had been no on-going nuclear weapons program in Iran since the fall of 2003. ElBaradei noted that the Estimate tallied with the Agency´s consistent statements over the last few years. Although Iran still needed to clarify some important aspects of its past and present nuclear activities, the Agency had no concrete evidence of an ongoing nuclear weapons program or undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran, he added. [7]

Responding to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warnings that the world had to be prepared for the possibility of war if Iran acquired atomic weapons, he characterized talk of attacking Iran as "hype", saying: "I would not talk about any use of force.There are rules on how to use force, and I would hope that everybody would have gotten the lesson after the Iraq situation, where 70,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives on the suspicion that a country has nuclear weapons." "We need to be cool," he said, adding: "We need not to hype the issue."^[1]

He further added "I do not believe at this stage that we are facing a clear and present danger that requires we go beyond diplomacy."^[2]

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,^{[original research?]} 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.

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.
The World Nuclear Association awarded ElBaradei its Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Peaceful Worldwide Use of Nuclear Technology in September 2007.[8]

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• 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 other comments on Iran, in an Oct. 22nd interview with France's Le Monde newspaper, ElBaradei said:

"I want to get people away from the idea that Iran will be a threat from tomorrow, and that we are faced right now with the issue of whether Iran should be bombed or allowed to have the bomb. We are not at all in that situation. Iraq is a glaring example of how, in many cases, the use of force exacerbates the problem rather than solving it."

• 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." [9]

• 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." [10]

• 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.

Preceded by Hans Blix

Director General of the IAEA 1997 – present

Incumbent

v • d • e Nobel Peace Prize Laureates
Kofi Annan / United Nations (2001) • Jimmy Carter (2002) • Shirin Ebadi (2003) • Wangari Maathai (2004) • International Atomic Energy Agency / Mohamed ElBaradei (2005) • Grameen Bank / Muhammad Yunus (2006) • Al Gore / Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007)
Complete roster | (1901-1925) | (1926-1950) | (1951-1975) | (1976-2000) | (2001-2025)

Persondata
NAME	ElBaradei, Mohamed
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	محمد البرادعي (Arabic)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Egyptian diplomat and the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency
DATE OF BIRTH	June 17, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH	Egypt
DATE OF DEATH	living
PLACE OF DEATH