Mostafa Hussein Kamel Ahmed Mostafa (born 23 March 1960) ( ar, مصطفى حسين كامل أحمد مصطفى) is the former Egyptian Minister of State for Environmental Affairs. He was sworn into Prime Minister Hesham Qandil's cabinet, the

Qandil Cabinet The cabinet of Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Qandil was sworn in on 2 August 2012. Qandil was appointed by President Mohamed Morsi, following the resignation of military-named premier Kamal Ganzouri. The cabinet consists of 36 ministers. The com ...

, on 2 August 2012, following the 2011–2012 Egyptian revolution that deposed President

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

, retaining his position from former Prime Minister

Kamal Ganzouri Kamal Ganzouri ( ar, كمال الجنزورى, ‎; 12 January 1933 – 31 March 2021) was an Egyptian economist who served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 7 December 2011 to 24 July 2012. He previously served as prime minister from 1996 ...

's interim government. He was one of the independent ministers in the cabinet.

Early life and education

Mostafa Hussein Kamel is a Professor of Cairo University. He was born in

Beni Suef Beni Suef ( ar, بني سويف, Baniswēf the capital city of the Beni Suef Governorate in Egypt. Beni Suef is the location of Beni Suef University. An important agricultural trade centre on the west bank of the Nile River, the city is located 11 ...

, Egypt, on 23 March 1960. He attended

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

, which he graduated from Faculty of Science in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in geology and in 1989 a PhD in geophysics.

Non-political career

Kamel is a

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...

and taught as a professor at

's science department. He also served as the director of Cairo University's Centre for Combating Environmental Hazards and the Basel Regional Center for Training and Technology Transfer across the Arab Region from 2 August 2010 until 6 December 2011. From 19 July 2003 until 8 October 2011, Kamel served as Chairman of the Geophysics Department, Faculty of Science at Cairo University as well as the geophysics branch at the university.

Political career

Kamel was sworn into former Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri's interim government, which was established after the Egyptian revolution of 2011–2012. In doing so, he replaced Maged George, who had served as the minister since 2004. He retained this position in Prime Minister Qandil's

, after the Salafi Al-Nour Party declined the position, believing it to be an "insult" and not important enough. He was sworn into the cabinet on 2 August 2012. A number of environmentalists were dismayed over his appointment, believing that he cannot address Egypt's environment, which they said is in a "critical state" and Egyptians cannot waste "time with leftover government officials." Following his appointment to the ministry, some environmentalists who view the ministry as dangerous to the environment have proposed dismantling the ministry altogether. In a cabinet reshuffle on 5 January 2013, Kamel was replaced by Khaled Abdel Aal.

Nature reserves visit

In early August 2012, he paid a visit to certain nature reserves located in the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a l ...

. The purpose of the visit was to listen to workers' demands and complaints regarding the reserves, which would be incorporated into an attempt to change the maintenance of these reserves, with an independent body that is affiliated with Egypt's Environmental Affairs Ministry controlling the reserves. In addition, Kamel stressed the importance of decentralization, and also promised to work and fix the problems that the workers at the reserves voiced.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamel, Mostafa Hussein 1960 births Living people Cairo University alumni People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 Environment ministers of Egypt Qandil Cabinet