Ashraf Ghorbal

At a recent diplomatic gathering in the American capital, Soviet Ambassador Anatolyi F. Dobrynin turned to Egypt's Ambassador Ashraf Ghorbal and said, in a stern tone: "Ashraf, you are waiting for me to get out of Washington!" Ambassador Ghorbal shot back quickly: "Yes, but I didn't think you were getting the message! You're still here, aren't you?" Could this have been a new Soviet-Egyptian diplomatic crisis in the making?

Well, not exactly. The exchange between the two men was good-humored banter which stemmed from the fact that Ambassador Dobrynin—with 22 years of service in Washington—is the dean of the diplomatic corps. Ambassador Ghorbal is vice-dean, and would become the dean if the Soviet Ambassador left.

Ambassador Ghorbal may never make it as dean—particularly since he will reach the compulsory retirement age for Egyptian diplomats within the coming year—but the decade he has spent in Washington in his present position has put him at the top of the seniority list among the ambassadors from Arab countries.

Coping with Fallout

He has had an unusually challenging ten years of service—with more than half of it haunted by the fallout from Egypt's Camp David peace agreement with Israel. As a consequence of that agreement, his government has not had diplomatic relations with the governments of his counterparts in Arab embassies in Washington, and he is officially excluded from their formal diplomatic get-togethers. Perhaps another kind of diplomat, with different temperament and background, might have found the situation too difficult to cope with or too depressing. But not Ashraf Ghorbal.

"I've been enjoying it," he says, affably. "The Arab ambassadors are my friends. We see each other at diplomatic parties. I visit some of them at their residences and even, informally, at their offices. We brief each other on what we are all doing. I always play it in a way that allows them to feel comfortable with the relationship, and they do the same for me."

One of the ways in which at least some of the Arab ambassadors can feel comfortable is when Ambassador Ghorbal puts on his hat as dean of the African diplomatic corps, which includes not only the sub-Saharan countries but also Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauretania. He often presides over meetings of this group in his own or other embassies, with the Arab African as well as other African delegates in attendance. What makes such formal meetings with his Arab colleagues diplomatically permissible is that "African" rather than "Arab" affairs are discussed.

Ambassador Ghorbal is an old hand at dealing with such political intricacies caused by ruptures in diplomatic relations—having previously, from 1968 to 1972, been the chief representative for Egypt in Washington after his country broke off relations with the U.S. during the June, 1967, Arab-Israeli war.

"I think that in times of estrangement you need dialogue more than during other periods," he says. "That's why in those days you could find me, practically every day, at the State Department, the National Security Council, the Pentagon, and in Congress. Today, for the same reason, I try very hard to keep in constant communication with my Arab brothers."

Getting Up and Going

He sets a fast pace for himself in carrying out these and other diplomatic tasks—getting up before six and working through early evening, as well as putting in countless hours over the weekends. "The pace in the U.S. is much faster than elsewhere," he says, "and I try to keep up with it—although it's not easy. Fortunately, I've had a chance to get accustomed to it because 23 years of my 38-year career have been in this country." Back in the 1940s he studied at Harvard, from which he received both an M.A. and a Ph.D., and afterwards had three tours at the United Nations.

However he got it, Ambassador Ghorbal's get-up-and-go and stamina on the job have passed some critical tests. Early in 1977 he spent a harrowing evening talking with a Hanafi Muslim who had taken 138 Jewish Americans hostage in the B'nai B'rith Building in Washington—and, at considerable personal risk, played a key role in obtaining their release. Even today, he says, "people come up to me and say: 'thanks—you saved my life.'"

During the October, 1973, war—after having served nearly a year as assistant security advisor to President Sadat—he was in charge of Egypt's information and public relations. It was a round-the-clock job as the war went on week after week, and those Western journalists (including the writer of this profile) who were on hand in Cairo then and had also covered Egypt's 1956 and 1967 wars with Israel were in general agreement that the standard of accuracy and objectivity in the government's handling of the news of the war was much higher than ever before.

One Arab-Israeli war later, what advice does Ambassador Ghorbal have for the Israelis? "Israelis should understand that force of arms is not going to solve their problems. They could act on this by withdrawing from south Lebanon," he says.