Egypt has officially nominated former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Aboul-Gheit to take over as the Arab League’s next Secretary-General, state news agency MENA reported. According to the report, Aboul-Gheit has been nominated by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to succeed Nabil El-Araby, whose term is set to end in July. The vote on Aboul-Gheit’s accession to the position will take place on Thursday. Last week, Egypt’s presidency spokesperson said that President Sisi had nominated a “prestigious diplomat” for the position, in the hopes that he will “achieve Arab unity and protect the Arab world’s national security.” Aboul-Gheit, 73, worked as an Ambassador in Rome and Macedonia before heading Egypt’s permanent delegation to the United Nations in 1999. Aboul-Gheit succeeded Ahmed Maher as Foreign Minister in July 2004, ending his term in March 2011 less than a month after the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak. Since the end of his tenure as Foreign Minister, Aboul-Ghet remained out of the public eye, rarely making any public statements. Aboul-Gheit is set to succeed El-Araby as Secretary-General of the Arab League in July 2016. El-Araby, who briefly succeeded Aboul-Gheit as Foreign Minister in…
