By Amit Baruah

My I put the accent on diplomacy, on the sanctity of human life, on understanding where we are coming from, on a system of security that is not a zero sum game. I don’t start from that the only way to resolve issues is regime change and use of force.”

That’s Mohamed ElBaradei, Nobel laureate and director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), at his best, in an October 2 interview to the Financial Times. Unlike most international civil servants, ElBaradei is willing to speak his mind and stick his neck out.

Most recently, the 65-year-old Cairo-born, US-educated lawyer has been under fire from Washington for his initiative to get Iranians agree to a “work plan” in a bid to make Tehran come clean on its “clandestine” nuclear programme.

He drew flak for his comments in June this year, “I have no brief other than to make sure we don’t go into another war or that we go crazy into killing each other. You do not want to give additional argument to new crazies who say ‘let’s go and bomb Iran’.”

Asked who the “new crazies” were, he replied: “Those who have extreme views and say the only solution is to impose your will by force.”

ElBaradei believes he’s not just a technician going and taking environmental samples. “I owe it to the international community, based on the facts I see, to give them my advice on how we can move forward,” he’s said.

From 1984, ElBaradei was a senior official in the IAEA Secretariat, holding a number of high-level policy positions, including that of the Agency’s Legal Adviser and subsequently the Assistant Director General for External Relations.

He began his career in the Egyptian diplomatic service in 1964, serving in the Permanent Missions of Egypt to the United Nations in New York and Geneva, in charge of political, legal and arms control issues. From 1974 to 1978, ElBaradei was a special assistant to the Foreign Minister of Egypt.

“During this period, Dr ElBaradei was a member of various presidential and ministerial bilateral delegations. He was a member of the negotiating team that led to the conclusion of the disengagement agreements between Egypt and Israel,” his official profile says. In 1980, he left the foreign service to join the United Nations.

In October 2005, ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way”.

In its citation, the Norwegian Nobel Committee referred to the IAEA’s work as being of “incalculable importance” and referred to ElBaradei as an “unafraid advocate” of new measures to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

In his Nobel lecture of December 10, 2005, ElBaradei made out a passionate case for greater understanding between peoples and religions, pointing out that all religions valued the sanctity of human life.

“I am an Egyptian Muslim, educated in Cairo and New York, and now living in Vienna. My wife and I have spent half our lives in the North, half in the South. And we have experienced first hand the unique nature of the human family and the common values we all share,” he said in Oslo.

Clearly, the international community is privileged to have a person like ElBaradei at the helm of affairs in the IAEA.