Yahia Abdel Mageed
FAAS
يحيى عبدالمجيد
Ministry of Irrigation and Hydro-Electric Power
In office
1971–1976
Ministry of Irrigation and Hydro-Electric Power
In office
1977–1980
Personal details
Born1925
Died13 December 2020(2020-12-13) (aged 94–95)
Khartoum, Sudan
EducationGordon Memorial College (B.Sc)
Imperial College London (DIC)
AwardsCrystal Drop Award, IWRA
Scientific career
FieldsCivil Engineering
Hydrology
InstitutionsUniversity of Khartoum, UN-WC, UNESCO, IWRA

Yahia Abdel Mageed FAAS (Arabic: يحيى عبدالمجيد, 1925–13 December 2020) was a Sudanese Minister and the Secretary-General of the 1st United Nations Water Conference.

Early life and education

Yahia graduated as a civil engineerfrom Gordon Memorial College (now University of Khartoum) in 1950, and then completed his degree in hydrology at the Imperial College of Science and Technology.[1]

Research and career

Yahia joined the Ministry of Irrigation and Hydro-Electric Power of Sudan and became its Minister from 1971 to 1976, and from 1977 to 1980. During these 8 years he helped in building Roseires Dam, Khashm el-Girba Dam, other irrigation projects. He is famous for opposing to the building of Kajabr Dam which had disastrous effects on the region.[2][3]

Kurt Waldheim, the UN's then-Secretary-General, selected Yahia as the Secretary-General of the UN Water Conference (UNWC), in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in late May 1976. Yahia took over from his predecessor, who left him with a small budget and a history of corruption.[4][5] To assist UNWC in assisting Mageed with his situation, Mostafa Kamal Tolba gave substantial United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) funds.[6] Yahia contributed to the UNWC being one of the most successful and effective global conferences, the UN has ever hosted with his practical understanding of water, charismatic personality, and excellent administration. In his opening address to UNWC, Mageed noted:[7][8]

The success of this conference will be measured not here at Mar del Plata, not by us, but by posterity over the next two decades.

By these standards, it is without a shadow of a question that UNWC was a resounding success. Compared to when he arrived, Mageed departed the UN in a far better state.[9]

Committee on Natural Resources Holds Second Special Session as Preparatory Body for 1977 Water Conference. Yahia Abdel Mageed (3rd from left), Secretary-General of the Water Conference, is seen making a statement. To his left is Leslie O. Harriman (Nigeria), re-elected Chairman of the Committee.[10]

Yahia, Mostafa Kamal Tolba, and Asit K. Biswas made the 1980s be recognised as the International Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (IWSSD), during which a sizable portion of the world's population would have access to clean water and sanitation. A few times after the UNWC concluded, Tolba appointed Mageed, Gilbert White, and Biswas to the International Water Resources Association (IWRA). Until Tolba departed UNEP in 1992, this Board often convened, roughly every nine months. Yahia developed and became an ardent supporter of IWRA. He had significant responsibilities in the World Water Congresses held by IWRA in Ottawa, Cairo, and Rabat. He won the IWRA vice presidential election.[4]

He then returned to Sudan as a consultant to the government[11][12] and UNESCO[13] on Water resources and Hydrology including international disputes about the River Nile.[14][15][16]

Death

Yahia passed away in Khartoum, Sudan, from natural causes, on the evening of 13 December 2020, aged 95.[17]

Awards and honours

Yahia was a Founding Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (1985)[18] and was awarded IWRA’s Crystal Drop Award in 1991.[4]

Selected publications

See also

References

  1. ↑ "sudaneseonline". sudaneseonline. 15 November 2016. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. ↑ hakeemtola. "نبوكين تنعى الخبير الوطنى يحيى عبد المجيد |" (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  3. ↑ "رئيس الجمهورية يزور خبير المياه الدولي يحي عبدالمجيد للاطمئنان علي صحته » Présidence de la République - Palais présidentiel". www.presidency.gov.sd. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  4. 1 2 3 Biswas, Asit K. (2021-05-19). "Yahia Abdel Mageed (1925–2021)". Water International. 46 (4): 626–627. doi:10.1080/02508060.2021.1932976. ISSN 0250-8060. S2CID 235769600.
  5. ↑ U.S. Participation in the UN: Report by the President to Congress for the Year 1976. 1976. Department of State. 1977. Archived from the original on 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  6. ↑ Times, Juan de Onis Special to The New York (1977-03-15). "International Cooperation Stressed as U.N. Water Conference Opens". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  7. ↑ "Yahia Abdel Mageed appointed Secretary-General of United Nations Water Conference". 1976-05-21. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ↑ Biswas, Asit K.; Tortajada, Cecilia (2009-02-20). Impacts of Megaconferences on the Water Sector. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-3-540-37224-0. Archived from the original on 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  9. ↑ "United Nations Photo - fc0.jpg". dam.media.un.org. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  10. ↑ "United Nations Photo - fc0.jpg". dam.media.un.org. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  11. ↑ Times, Kathleen Teltsch Special to The New York (1977-03-14). "Politics Unlikely at Water Parley". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  12. ↑ State, United States Department of (1977). The Department of State Bulletin. Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  13. ↑ "A Global challenge". unesdoc.unesco.org. 1978. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16.
  14. ↑ Tvedt, Terje (2000). The River Nile and Its Economic, Political, Social and Cultural Role: An Annotated Bibliography. University of Bergen. ISBN 978-82-7453-017-1. Archived from the original on 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  15. ↑ Clarke, Robin (2013-12-16). Water: The International Crisis. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-15934-5. Archived from the original on 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  16. ↑ Swain, Ashok (1997). "Ethiopia, the Sudan, and Egypt: The Nile River Dispute". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 35 (4): 675–694. doi:10.1017/S0022278X97002577. ISSN 0022-278X. JSTOR 162009. S2CID 154735027. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  17. ↑ التحرير, فريق (2020-12-16). "حمدوك ينعي يحيى عبد المجيد وزير الري الأسبق - السودان اليوم". المشهد السوداني (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  18. ↑ "Mageed Yahyia Abdel | The AAS". www.aasciences.africa. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.

Further reading

Biswas, Asit K. (2021-05-19). Yahia Abdel Mageed (1925–2021). Water International. 46 (4): 626–627. doi:10.1080/02508060.2021.1932976. ISSN 0250-8060

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