Arabic: محمد البرادعي Born: June 17, 1942 Former Secretary-General of the U.N.'s IAEA Mohamed el-Baradei is a prominent Egyptian opposition figure and potential presidential candidate. A diplomat for most of his career, el-Baradei entered the scene of Egyptian politics in early 2010. El-Baradei's diplomatic career began in the Egyptian Ministry of External Affairs in 1964. In 1984, el-Baradei began working with the U.N's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and in 1997 he was elected as Director General of the agency. El-Baradei served as Director General for three terms, leaving the post in November 2009. El-Baradei disputed the U.S. rationale for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. El-Baradei told the U.N. Security Council in March 2003 that documents reportedly showing Iraq had tried to acquire uranium from Niger were not authentic. In 2005, el-Baradei and the IAEA were 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." ElBaradei donated all of his winnings to building orphanages in Cairo. He was also awarded the Greatest Nile Collar, the highest Egyptian civilian decoration. In 2010 el-Baradei's name appeared on the scene of Egyptian politics. Egyptians soon rallied behind el-Baradei, viewing him as a potential leader and as someone respected by the international community. The National Association of Change was former in 2010 with el-Baradei's blessing and soon became a prominent platform for opposing the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak. Since late 2009 el-Baradei's name has been circulated as a possible successor to Mubarak, and el-Baradei recently announced his intention to run in Egypt's next Presidential elections.
