Diplomatic Career
Moussa then began his diplomatic career. Between 1958 and 1972 he worked in several missions, including Egypt’s Embassy in Switzerland and the Egyptian mission to the United Nations. From 1974 to 1977 he was an advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. From 1977 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1990, he was the Director of the Department of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1981 to 1983, Moussa was the Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, then from 1983 to 1986 Ambassador to India. In 1990, he was promoted Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations. He was named Minister of Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Atef Sedki on 20 May 1991. He was minister until 15 May 2001 when he was elected as Secretary General of the Arab League. Moussa has been heavily involved with Egypt's foreign policy since 1958. He has been Egypt's Ambassador to the United Nations, India, and Switzerland for a total of 21 years. Moussa was among the many Arab and international diplomats who tried to resolve the Lebanon War (1975–1990), and for this he is criticized for taking a strong anti-Christian position. After serving as Egypt's Foreign Minister from 1991 to 2001, he served as the Secretary General of the Arab League. Moussa has been an extremely popular political figure in Egypt due to his criticism of Israeli policies towards Gaza and the West Bank. At the Forum for New Diplomacy in February 2010, Moussa gave a speech in which he criticized the U.S. government's double standard supporting Israel's nuclear weapons policy but not allowing Iran to pursue nuclear energy. He also criticized Western countries, including the U.S., for not recognizing the results of the 2006 Palestinian elections that brought Hamas into power. Like El-Baradei and the Muslim Brotherhood, he supports opening the Gaza Strip/Egypt border (Seale, 2010). His criticisms have made Moussa extremely popular. Many political commentators said the Mubarak sent him to work for the Arab League in 2001 so as not to compete as a presidential candidate in the 2005 Presidential elections because of his popularity. Amr Moussa announced that he would be running as a presidential candidate on 1 March 2011.
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