Egyptian diplomat Ahmed Abul Gheit named Secretary General of the Arab League

Egyptian diplomat and former Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was named as Secretary General of the Arab League on 10 March 2016.

•    The 22-member organization voted unanimously in favor of Aboul Gheit.
•    This appointment was announced by Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa at the end of 22-nation ministerial meeting in Cairo.
•    73-year-old Aboul Gheit, a former ambassador to the United Nations, will succeed Nabil El-Araby.
•    Gheit served as Egypt's foreign minister during the final seven years of Hosni Mubarak's rule, leaving his post in 2011, following the mass protests that toppled the Mubarak.
•    Gheit’s name was proposed for the post by Cairo after the incumbent, Nabil al-Arabi, another Egyptian, declined a second five-year term as Secretary General.
•    Aboul Gheit will take office at a time when the Cairo-based Arab League is facing several tests of its unity.
•    At the top of the list is the war in Syria that has killed more than 270000 people and displaced millions since it erupted in 2011.