Mohamed El-Baradei ..a pride for Egyptians

Mohamed El-Baradei (born June 17, 1942, Egypt) is the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an inter-governmental organization under the auspices of the United Nations. El-Baradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
El-Baradei earned a Bachelor degree in Law from the University of Cairo in 1962 and a Doctorate in International Law at the New York University School of Law in 1974. His diplomatic career began in 1964 in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign affairs, where he served on two occasions in the Permanent Missions of Egypt to the United Nations in New York and Geneva. In 1980 he became a senior fellow in charge of the International Law Program at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
Since 1984, El-Baradei has been a senior member of the IAEA Secretariat, holding a number of high-level positions. Before his current position of Director General, he has been the agency's legal adviser (1984 to 1993) and Assistant Director General for External Relations (1993 to 1997).
El-Baradei is also a member of the International Law Association and the American Society of International Law. He is married to Aida El-Kachef, a kindergarten teacher at Vienna International School, and has two children, Laila and Mostafa.
El-Baradei has served as the Director General for the IAEA for two terms since December 1, 1997, and is now set for a third term after the current US administration reluctantly reversed its opposition to him in June 2005.
2005 Nobel Peace Prize: The International Atomic Energy Agency and its chief Mohamed El Baradei were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005. Mr. El Baradei and the agency will share the prize.
The chairman of the committee, Ole Danbold Mjos, announced the winner beneath crystal chandeliers in a small vaulted room on the third floor of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. The winner was chosen from nearly 200 nominees, a record for the prize, first awarded in 1901. Front-runners are believed to have included people as diverse as Finnish peace mediator Martti Ahtissari, anti-nuclear activist and Nagasaki survivor Senji Yamaguchi and Irish rock singer Bono. The prize is one of five Nobel Prizes endowed by the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who said in his will that the prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."
At the time that Mr. Nobel stipulated the terms of the prizes, Norway and Sweden were politically united. The other prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.
President Hosni Mubarak hosted a ceremony on Tuesday February 7 in honor of Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Dr. Mohamed al-Baradei for being awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
The President handed al-Baradei the Nile Collar, the highest ranking of all Egyptian decorations. It is known to be granted exclusively to kings, heads of state and those who render great services at the national and human levels in general.