COUNTYWIDE : Egyptian Diplomat to Address Council

An Egyptian journalist who served for 11 years as the League of Arab States’ ambassador to the United Nations will address the public in Camarillo in an appearance Thursday sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Ventura County.

Clovis Maksoud, 63, is the director of the Center for the Study of the Global South at The American University’s School of International Services in Washington, D.C.

Maksoud will speak Thursday about life in the Middle East and how the Persian Gulf War has affected the Arab World, said council director Cynthia Cooke.

“Prof. Maksoud will address the progress of democracy in the Middle East, and the response of Arab nations to Iraq and to the current Algerian situation,” Cooke said.

Cooke said the years that Maksoud served as the League of Arab States’ U.N. representative through 1990 demonstrated his political skills and his ability to explain the Arab viewpoint to the world.

“He was able to pull together the divergent countries that made up the Arab League and survive in his position,” Cooke said.

An attorney and journalist before his diplomatic career, Maksoud was the editor of the daily Al-Ahram in Cairo and editor of the weekly Arab-language Al-Nahar in Beirut before his U.N. duties.

He also served as the Arab League’s Ambassador to India and Southeast Asia, as well as special envoy to the United States and visiting professor at Georgetown University.

Maksoud has published a number of books, including “The Crisis of the Arab Left” and “The Arab League.”

The talk will be held at Ottavio’s Banquet Hall in Camarillo, at 340 Mobil Ave. Admission will cost $10 for members of the World Affairs Council and $15 for non-members.

A cocktail reception at 5:15 p.m. will precede the 6 p.m. program.

For further information, call the World Affairs Council at 988-7600 or 648-1882.