A PIONEER OF EGYPTIAN DIPLOMACY 1923-1947 Farag Mikhaïl Moussa Bey
Farag Moussa
254pp • 132x210mm
Illustrations: 22 black and white photographs
ISBN: 978-1-908531-71-1
Price: £14.95
Publication: April 2017
An intriguing window into a lost age of international diplomacy, as told through the life story of an Egyptian diplomat.
“I implore you, as I implore the whole of Egypt, to let no one harm the sacred union of the Cross and the Crescent…In truth, here there are neither Copts nor Muslims, only Egyptians.”
So begins Farag Moussa’s compelling narrative of his late father’s life - an engaging and comprehensive tour that tells a very human life story, but also brings in the vanished world of Egypt’s belle époque. Over the course of a distinguished career, Moussa recounts an educated Egypt perspective on places as diverse as Addis Ababa and Washington DC, and characters as diverse as Evelyn Waugh and Benito Mussolini.
About the Author
Farag Moussa followed in his father’s footsteps to work with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry (1951-1957). He went on to the League of Arab States (1958-1969) as a diplomat and a public relations officer. He then joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations organisation, where he worked for 20 years, where he was dealing mainly with Egypt and the Arab countries. For more than 14 years following his retirement he was elected President of the International Federation of Inventors’ Association (IFIA) an organisation representing associations from over 80 countries.
Specialist in history and diplomacy as well as in the world of invention, Dr Farag Moussa is the author of several books in French, some of which have been translated into English, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Korean, Finnish and Dutch.
Dr Moussa has received several distinctions, in particular the Middle Cross of the Merit Order, which was conferred by the President of the Republic of Hungary in 1996.
CONTENTS 1. A young man and his country (1892 - 1923) A Fellah’s grandson, The lawyer and the revolution, A career as a university professor?, The Wafd party
2. Birth of the Egyptian Diplomacy (1923) The pioneers, Yes to legations, no to embassies… and what about the League of Nations?
3. Washington (1924 - 1927) America !, The Royal Egyptian Legation in Washington, The gateway to the United States, A cotton-picking argument!, Two Egyptian feminists visit Washington, The autobiography of a slave, Skin colour and a diplomatic incident, A dear colleague and an upcoming key figure in Egypt, The American diplomat confronting the British “proconsul”, News from Egypt , Cupid at last intervenes
4. Berlin (1927 - 1928) Germans in the fatherland and in Egypt, Official duties and home life, Cologne: the world’s press exhibition, An international forum for denunciation , Oh, Nefertiti! , German technology and Thousand and one Arabian musics, A meeting in Berlin between King Fouad and Field Marshal Hindenburg, Ever on the lookout for news from Egypt
5. Family life in Egypt (Nov. 1928 – Feb. 1929) Married before God, at last
6. Addis Ababa (1929 - 1935) From Abyssinia to Ethiopia, The best of ministers, Consular and political life, The pitfalls of being appointed Consul, En route for Ethiopia, The Egyptian Consul’s residence and chancellery, First official contacts, King Tafari, Emperor Haile Selassie, Friendship with the Emperor, Ministers and reformists , The Emperor’s foreign advisers, The diplomatic corps, The Archbishop of Ethiopia had never been an Ethiopian, A single visit in sixteen centuries, The lavish celebrations of the coronation, Evelyn Waugh, the journalist, The etiquette of presenting gifts and awarding honours , Money matters; the thaler, the pound and the dollar , The tortuous path towards education, What of the Muslims in Ethiopia?, The Egyptian Consul administers justiceA state visit and lions as a present, An Egyptian painter with a love for Ethiopia, The never ending saga of Lake Tana, Will Italy attack?, Farewell to the country of the King of Kings
7. Rome (1935 - 1936) Alexandria – summer 1935, Egypt and Italy, 1935-1936: the move towards major political change in Egypt, The inquisitive Count Ciano, Egyptians volunteer to defend Ethiopia, The Ethiopian Chargé d’Affaires is tricked by Il Duce, Mussolini declares Moussa “non è più persona grata”, A message from Mussolini, intended to be reassuring, Rome? My mother still dreamt about it many years later…
8. Egypt (1936 - 1938) Egypt: another step towards independence, Promoted to director within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and given the title of Bey, Egypt’s entry to the League of Nations, Creation of the very first Egyptian embassy, Coloured shirts and the Muslim brotherhood
9. Spain (1938 - 1939) A last-minute change in destination, Across southern France to Saint Jean de Luz, A scattered diplomatic corps, Biarritz and Villa Belle Rose , The diplomat and the civil war, Contact with the representatives of Franco’s regime, Recognition of Franco’s government, From Viscount Mamblas to Duke of Alba , Appointment of a Chargé d’Affaires , A final mission and a farewell to diplomacy!
10. Alexandria and Cairo (1939 - 1946) The return to the homeland, Appointed Deputy Royal Councilor , Choosing schools and languages for the children of diplomats, An Egyptian father in a multilingual environment, Fatherly love, Special mission in Ethiopia, Rommel and his army on the doorstep - the family takes shelter, A friend in the United States’ diplomatic corps, Late 1944: tumultuous events loom
11. A return to diplomacy (1946-1947) ? Embassies at last! , An eye on the UN , The thorny issue of the Coptic Church in Ethiopia September: a “phantom” transfer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Like father… like son
...Two extracts:
Coloured shirts Certain events that occurred in Egypt between 1936 and 1938 must have given many Egyptians pause for thought. Coloured shirts, worn like banners, had appeared on the streets of Europe for several years by then; Moussa had already encountered the brown shirts of Germany (the Nazis) and the black shirts of Italy (the fascists) when posted in Berlin and Rome. In the early 1930s Egypt also adopted the fashion for coloured shirts. It should nevertheless be emphasised that the violence they incited was nothing in comparison to what occurred in Europe. A people’s movement with an unbridled passion for nationalism, “Young Egypt” (Misr Al-Fatat) founded in 1933 by an inspiring orator, Ahmed Hussein, chose a green shirt as the uniform for its paramilitary wing. Not wishing to be outdone, the youth section of the Wafd adopted blue shirts. To the blue shirts, the green shirt was a provocative symbol of fascism, and scuffles soon broke out. Confronted with such brutality, the Wafd party leaders were obliged to call their young followers to order, reminding them that the party’s watchword was democracy…
Friendship with the Emperor (Haile Selassie) To see the two of them together, there was little similarity between the Emperor and my father. One was of small build, the other tall and stockily built. Haile Selassie had a thick curly beard, whereas Farag Mikhaïl Moussa sported the squarely-trimmed moustache that was fashionable at the time. What brought the two men together was, on one hand, the Christian faith and, on the other hand, a shared interest in the modern world. They were also from the same generation. Better still, they were born only three weeks apart under the same sign of the zodiac, Leo...
Available April 2017. Buy your copy direct from the publishers and receive 20% discount from the cover price of £14.95, plus p&p.
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