Abdul Minty (otherwise known as Abdul Samad Minty) (born 31 October 1939) is a South African

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. He is currently ambassador of his country to the Board of Governors of the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

(IAEA). He was a candidate for the succession of

Mohammed ElBaradei Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei ( ar, محمد مصطفى البرادعي, Muḥammad Muṣṭafá al-Barādaʿī, ; born 17 June 1942) is an Egyptian law scholar and diplomat who served as the vice president of Egypt on an interim basis from 14 July ...

as Director-General of the IAEA. Abdul Samad Minty (01612940) (49776375791)

Early life

Minty was born in Hartebeesfontein, South Africa. He grew up in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

but left the country for the UK in 1958.

Working against apartheid

Minty presented the IOC 1962 material on racism in South African sports, which led in 1963 to exclude South Africa from the Olympic Games. Following his studies, he was a researcher at the Richardson Institute for Conflict and Peace Research in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

from 1969 to 1975. In 1979 he went to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

to lead the "World Campaign against Military and Nuclear Cooperation with South Africa" in Oslo. This initiative was committed to respecting the 1977 arms embargo against South Africa and South Africa's (then only suspected) nuclear weapons program. Minty repeatedly raised these questions in the UN committees, such as the Special Committee against Apartheid, or the OAU . He was also a researcher at the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo during this time.

After apartheid

Minty returned to South Africa in 1995. His experience and contacts were in demand in post-apartheid South Africa . He was Deputy Director-General of the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the WMD Non-Proliferation Council, which is responsible for export control of nuclear materials. In 1995, he was also South Africa's ambassador to the IAEA Board of Governors in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Minty was committed to global nuclear disarmament, but also to the spread of peaceful nuclear technologies. In November 2008, South Africa's Minister of Mining and Energy, Patience, announced Sonjica Minty's candidacy for succeeding Mohammed el-Baradei, whose term ended on November 30, 2009, as IAEA Director-General. His candidacy was supported primarily by developing and emerging countries. After a first attempt to the election in March 2009 brought no decision, the Japanese

Yukiya Amano was a Japanese diplomat and the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (July 2009 – 2019). Amano previously served as an international civil servant for the United Nations and its subdivisions. Early life Amano was ...

prevailed on 2 July 2009 against Minty, when he reached the necessary two-thirds majority in the fourth ballot.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minty, Abdul 1939 births Living people South African diplomats People from Johannesburg