Egyptian diplomat Nabil Fahmy appointed as new Arab League chief

CAIRO (AP) — Arab foreign ministers on Sunday appointed veteran Egyptian diplomat Nabil Fahmy as the head of the 22-member Arab League, at a time the Middle East is plunged in a monthlong Iran war that shows no sign of abating.

Fahmy, a former Egyptian foreign minister, won the support of the Arab foreign ministers in a virtual meeting, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Fahmy’s five-year term will start in July, succeeding Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who served as Arab League chief since 2016.

His appointment came as Iran’s Arab neighbors are reeling from attacks by Iran and its proxies in response to massive airstrikes launched by the U.S. and Israel since Feb. 28.

Fahmy was the only nominee for the post, as it is a long-held protocol that Egypt as host of the Arab League traditionally nominates the head of the body since its establishment in 1945. The only time a non-Egyptian — Tunisian diplomat al-Shazly al-Qalibi — was appointed to the post was in 1979, after Egypt’s membership was suspended following its peace treaty with Israel.

Egypt rejoined in 1989, with the headquarters of the Arab League returning to Cairo and a new Egyptian secretary-general appointed in 1990.

Fahmy, 75, served as Egypt’s top diplomat between July 2013 and June 2014, when Egypt was in turmoil following the military overthrow of an elected Islamist president whose one-year rule proved divisive. Fahmy was Egypt’s ambassador to the United States between 1999 and 2008.

He also founded the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at The American University in Cairo, and currently serves as the school’s dean emeritus.

He is the son of Ismail Fahmy, the Egyptian foreign minister from 1973 to 1977. The elder Fahmy had resigned in protest of President Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem, which paved the way for Egypt becoming the first Arab country to establish diplomatic ties with Israel.