Page 48 - Bulletin, Vol.78 No.3, October 2019

and current international civil servants, professors and students, representatives of
Permanent Missions, institutions related to the International Geneva, NGOs, journalists.
The recently published book Eric Drummond and His Legacies. The League of Nations
1
and the Beginnings of Global Governance , which was presented at the UNOG Library
in April, provides detailed information and rich analytical inputs which will be used in the
preparation of the Dialogue.

In light of their rich and diverse experience as retired international civil servants, it is
very much hoped that this event will be an opportunity for members of AFICS to learn
more about Greycells and may be join our Association. Detailed information about the
event will be provided in due course.

NECROLOGY MR MADJID MADANI

By Rafik SAIDI

On Sunday July 21, Mr Madjid Madani passed away after a long
illness. He was 83 years old. He leaves behind Paulette, his lifelong
wife and a larger family of which he was the eldest. He worked for
UNHCR in Geneva, particularly in the human resources department
and in the field (Malaysia, USA, West Africa) in the area of assistance
programme management during the 1970s and 1980s. For those who
knew him, Mr. Madani was the last of a generation of men never to be
found again. He carried the moral imperative as a banner of the
education he received from his father, a laboratory technician by
profession, and the values of respect and integrity that he embraced
throughout his life. Respect for the other, respect for the word given and self-respect.
He had a self -awareness that shaped his dignity and sense of honour. Burkinabe, he
was by heart, because he was intellectually upright and honest in every way. His
personality was impervious to excesses, rumours and comments. Madjid's life was
made and built around his attachment to principles. Like Emile Zola, injustice was
unbearable to him. Very young in the 1950s, he joined the Algerian Students Movement
for Algerian Independence before leaving for France and continuing his fight in a
different way. First as a college teacher, he then joined the OAU where he worked
alongside the illustrious Diplomat Mohamed Sahnoun before embarking on a career
with UNHCR. A great admirer of Camus whose work watered his fertile mind, he
devoted his life to action until he could no longer do it. Madjid was tactful, with a virtuous
soul, kindness and empathy that radiated around him, whether in his daily life with

1 Eric Drummond and His Legacies. The League of Nations and the Beginnings of Global Governance , by David
1
McFayden, Michael D.V.Davies, Marylin Norah Carr and John Burley, Univ. of Southampton, Palgrave Macmillan,
2019.

44 AAFI-AFICS BULLETIN, Vol. 78 No. 3, 2019-10