Omar Adeel

Omar Abdel Hameed Adeel (Arabic: عمر عبد الحميد عديل, 21 July 1923 – 1976) was a Sudanese civil servant and diplomat. He is the inaugural Permanent Representatives of Sudan to the United Nations.

Adeel was born on 21 July 1923,^[2] in Baja village near Dongola, Northern State during the Anglo-Egyptian occupation of Sudan.^[3] He completed high school in Atbara, then moved to Khartoum to attend Gordon Memorial College but left after completing his second year.^[4]

Adeel sat for the civil service exam. He worked as a writer in the Sudanese Railways Department (1942 – 1943), the Sudan Defence Force (1943 – 1945), the Customs Department (1945 – 1947), then the Police Department (1948 – 1956).^[4]

While working with the Police Department, Adeel completed a diploma in Law at the University of Exeter, followed by a bachelor degree in Law at the University of London. Between 1954 and 1956, he was part of the transitional team working between the Governor-General of the Sudan government and the Sudanese interim-government.^[4]

Adeel became the Sudanese ambassador to Italy after Sudan independence in 1956. On 30 July 1957, Adeel became the inaugural Permanent Representatives of Sudan to the United Nations,^[5] where he became a member of the Asian-African block in the UN.^[1] In 1962, he was elected unanimously as the chairman of the UN General Assembly's political committee.^[6][7]

In 1964, Adeel was one of three candidates for the 19th president of the United Nations General Assembly.^[8][9] Alex Quaison-Sackey was elected, earning 18 out of 33 votes, to become the first black African to occupy that position.^[10][11] In December 1964 and following the October 1964 Revolution in Sudan,^[12] he was replaced by Fakhreddine Mohamed as the Permanent Representatives of Sudan to the United Nations.^[13][14]

In 1965, Adeel served as one of the UN observers for the 1965 Cook Islands general election.^[15][16][17] In 1966, he was appointed the UN representative on the "Aden question",^[18] which referred to the issue of the decolonisation of the British colony of Aden, including the Eastern and Western Aden Protectorates, and surrounding islands, and its future status.^[19][20]

In 1974, he became the Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme in Iraq.^[21] There, he became a close friend to Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, President of Iraq from 1968 to 1979.^[22]

In 1972, Adeel was accused by a New York woman of fathering her child and demanded financial support. Adeel invoked diplomatic immunity, leading to the case's dismissal.^[23]

He died in 1976.^[3]

Adeel received the Grand Cross of Order of St. Sylvester, the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, and the grand officer of the Order of Menelik II.^[2]