His career, his passions, his vision of diplomacy: who is Omar Hilale?

Permanent representative of Morocco to the UN, in New York, where he succeeded Mohammed Loulichki in 2014, Omar Hilale pursues a rich career as a diplomat, with long stints at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans residing abroad, which he knows in every nook and cranny.

He was notably its general secretary from 2005 to 2008, indicates the magazine Young Africain a portrait dedicated to him.

Omar Hilale also served in different chancelleries: before being appointed from 2001 to 2005, then from 2008 to 2014, as permanent representative of Morocco to the United Nations in Geneva, he was Moroccan ambassador to Singapore, in New -Zealand, Australia, and Indonesia, from 1996 to 2001, “where he stood out, particularly by obtaining the withdrawal of recognition [des séparatistes de la République sahraouie démocratique et populaire, Ndlr-Le360] by several countries in the Pacific region», we write.

Omar Hilale was born in 1951 in Agadir (Souss-Massa region), and grew up in Kénitra, near Rabat, in a family of eighteen brothers and sisters. He completed his entire education there.

After obtaining his baccalaureate in a National Education establishment in 1970, he turned to study law and political science at Mohammed-V University in Rabat.

He found his vocation as a diplomat… on a train, during a trip between the stations of Rabat and Kenitra.

He then heard a friend talking about diplomacy, and decided that it would be his profession: “I don’t know how to do anything else and I don’t want to do anything else» he told the magazine, adding that he often, and without reason, goes to his office at UN headquarters, in the middle of the weekend.

Another little-known facet of Omar Hilale: his love for literature. HAS Young Africahe cited his favorite writers: Émile Zola, Léon Tolstoy, Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, but also the Syrian poet Nizar Kabbani.

His model? Napoleon Bonaparte, for “his tenacity and determination, whatever the difficulties or adversity“, we wrote again.

And this admiration for this fallen emperor, then exiled, first to the island of Elba, then to that of Saint Helena, is felt, both in his speeches and in his attitudes at the UN: “patriot who became a real rock star in Morocco», dixit Young Africawhen he wanders, “humbly, in the streets of Rabat, Moroccans come running to greet him and ask him for selfies – he has the Sahara close to his heart».

«Long before becoming Morocco’s representative to the United Nations, the Sahara question seems very early in Omar Hilale’s trajectory. This is how during the oral entrance exam for Foreign Affairs, the examiners questioned him on this subject, foreshadowing the importance that this file would play in his career. Today, its ability to defend the Moroccanness of the Sahara on the international scene has become a trademark», écrit Young Africa.

The magazine also mentions, concerning the career of this diplomat, his passage through Algiers. It was in 1975, when, as a young graduate, and even top of his class, he was appointed to the embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Algeria, while the Green March was taking place.

He had worked there for a year and a half, and on duty “the memory of the generosity of the Algerian people».

«Even today, despite the numerous verbal jousts within the assemblies at the United Nations with his Algerian counterparts, in private or in the corridors of the UN, he makes a point of maintaining respectful relations.», says Young Africawho relays the words he confided to them: “I maintain excellent personal relationships with some of them, but when Morocco’s interests are attacked, I fight back».

Pour Young Africa«the counterattack is firm and targeted, carefully prepared, the facts presented, precise and verifiable. Without aggression. A posture far from being shared in ‘the other world’».