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.