Monday, June 04, 2012
The new ambassador to the United States from the Persian Gulf oil emirate of Qatar is a former career military officer turned diplomat since 2001. Born in 1956, Mohammed Bin Abdullah Bin Mutib Al Rumaihi graduated from the St. Cyr Military Academy in Coëtquidan, France, in 1980, and completed various officer training courses, mainly for artillery officers, in France and Pakistan, between 1981 and 1988.
Al Rumaihi was an officer in the Qatar military from 1980, when he was commissioned as a lieutenant, until 2001, when he retired as a major general, closing out his career as director of the joint Qatari-French Sagr al-Khaleej military exercise in 2001. Along the way, he served as an artillery brigade commander starting in 1982, an artillery battalion commander beginning in 1986, and a corps artillery commander starting in 1992.
Al Rumaihi transitioned from war to diplomacy by becoming an ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001. The following year, he was named ambassador to France, resident in Paris with concurrent representation to Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the European Union. Since 2003, Al Rumaihi has been assistant foreign minister for Follow Up Affairs. As head of the Permanent Committee for Organizing Conferences, he is responsible for organizing and attending international conferences on behalf of Qatar.
Al Rumaihi is married, and has four sons and three daughters. He is fluent in Arabic, French and English.
-Matt Bewig
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