October 1991, Page 90

Bulletin Board

EVENTS AND EXHIBITS

The Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), publisher of Middle East Report, will hold its 20th anniversary celebration on Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Kennedy Warren, 3133 Connecticut Ave., NW, in Washington, DC. Festivities, including Middle East cuisine, music, dance and special guests, begin at 7:31) pm. For information and ticket reservations, call Michaelle Browers at (202) 223-3677.

An exhibit entitled "Crushed Lapis and Burnished Gold: The Art of Illumination, " containing some 30 works from Iran, India, Turkey and Egypt, will be on view at the Smithsonian Institution's Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC through December 8. For further information call (202) 357-3200.

"Gulf Arab States: Beyond Camels, Oil, and the Sand Dunes," a traveling exhibition funded by the California Council for the Humanities, will be displayed by 12 local libraries throughout California. Suad S. Ammar, principal librarian of the Placentia Library District and project director, says the exhibit offers library goers an opportunity to learn about "the social life and culture of the six Gulf Arab States." Following its September opening in Placentia, the exhibit will be on display, for one month each, in the public libraries of Oceanside, Long Beach, Pasadena, Santa Maria, Fresno County, Oakland, Monterey, Oxnard, Coronado, Kern County and Santa Clara.

PEACE FELLOWSHIPS

The United States Institute for Peace invites applications and nominations for Distinguished Fellows, Peace Fellows and Peace Scholars, and particularly encourages proposals dealing with conflict and peace in the Middle East. Complete information is available from the Jennings Randolph Program for International Peace, US Institute for Peace, 1550 M St., NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 200051708, phone (202) 457-1706, FAX (202) 429-6063, TDD 4571719. Deadline for Distinguished Fellow nominations and Peace Fellow applications is Oct. 15, and for Peace Scholar applications Nov. 15.

AMBASSADORIAL NOMINEES

Christopher W.S. Ross, US ambassador to Algeria since 1988, has been named US ambassador to Syria, succeeding Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian. A career foreign service officer, Ambassador Ross previously has served as assistant to Middle East presidential envoy Philip Habib, and in diplomatic posts in Lebanon, Morocco and Libya.

Arthur Hayden Hughes, a career foreign service officer and currently deputy assistant secretary of defense for Near East and South Asian affairs, has been named to succeed Charles F. Dunbar, Jr. as ambassador to Yemen. Hughes is a former deputy chief of mission at the US embassies in Tel Aviv, The Hague and Copenhagen.

Ronald C. Barkley, the last US ambassador to former East Germany, will succeed retiring Ambassador Morton Abramowitz as ambassador to Turkey. Prior to the unification of Germany, Ambassador Barkley served as deputy chief of mission in the Republic of South Africa and in Norway and at various posts of the US in Berlin and Bonn.

CONSOLIDATION

The MidAmerica-Arab Chamber of Commerce, based in Chicago, IL, has combined its operations with those of the National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce, 1625 1 St., NW, Washington, DC 20006, (202) 331-8010. A farewell reception and dinner in honor of the founders, directors and members of the MidAmerica chamber, and inaugurating the Chicago branch of the US Arab chamber, was held on Sept. 5 at the RitzCarlton Hotel in Chicago.

Ali Sabry, 71, former Egyptian vice president, prime minister and foreign minister, died of internal bleeding at a Cairo hospital, where he was being treated for a blood clot on the lung. A former Egyptian Air Force commander, he was a participant in the Free Officers coup which deposed King Farouk, and a close adviser to President Gamal Abdel Nasser. He also served as vice president under Anwar Sadat, but was arrested in May 1971 on charges of plotting against Sadat. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was released for health reasons after serving 10 years. A native of the Nile Delta village of Qunaiyyat, Ali Sabry was a proponent of close Egyptian-Soviet ties and of a military rather than a political solution to the Israeli occupation of Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

Yusuf ldris, Egyptian playwright and short story writer, died of heart and lung ailments at the age of 64 in London, where he had been treated for a brain hemorrhage. A leading literary figure in the Arab world, he claimed he was not awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature given to fellow Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz because of his strong anti-Israel views.

The former maharajah of Travancore state in India, Sri Chitra Thirunal Balarama Varma, died July 19 of a stroke, at the age of 78. Under his rule from 1924 to independence in 1947, when it united with neighboring Cochin province to form the Indian state of Kerala, Travancore became one of the richest and most liberal states in India. In 1936, the maharajah issued a proclamation allowing low caste Hindus and untouchables to enter temples for the first time.

AbdelRahim Ahmed, member of the Palestine National Council and leader of the PLO member Arab Liberation Front, died of cancer at the age of 47 at his home in Amman on June 30. A close ally of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Ahmed was born in the Palestinian village of Haditha, in what is now Israel. His family fled to Jordan after the 1948 war, and he received a degree in agriculture from Damascus University. Ahmed became a guerrilla while still a teenager, and formed the Arab Liberation Front in 1970. He is survived by his wife, Widad, three daughters and a son.

John J. Kelberer, board chairman and chief executive officer of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) from 1978 to 1988, died June 26 of cancer at his home in Austin, TX, at the age of 64. A 1950 graduate of the University of Minnesota, with a degree in electrical engineering, he worked first for an Aramco subsidiary, then joined Aramco as a communications engineer in 1972. Two years later, he was named senior vice president and elected to the board of directors. Under his leadership, Aramco undertook massive engineering and construction projects, expanded its technical research facilities, and dramatically increased the number of Saudi nationals in management positions.