Ismat T. Kittani

Ismat Taha Kittani (; 5 April 1929 – 23 October 2001) was an Iraqi politician, most notable for being President of the United Nations General Assembly during its thirty-sixth session in 1981 and 1982.

Early life Ismat Kittani was born on 5 April 1929 in the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq in a town called Amedi. He was raised under poor circumstances and he liked to point out that he had not seen electric light till he was 12.

In 1946, Kittani received a scholarship to go study abroad and enrolled in Knox College. He served in Iraq's United Nation mission from 1957 to 1961 where he was a delegate to a number of councils which included the United Nations Security Council and the World Health Organization. After that he went to Geneva to serve as the delegate of Iraq in Geneva - Switzerland from 1961 up till 1964.

He received an honorary degree from Knox College on Saturday, 5 June 1982 where he was also one of the commencement speakers encouraging the youth of that time.

On September 15, 1985 he represented Iraq in the United Nations Security Council and was elected as the 36th president of the United Nations Security Council general assembly. He succeeded Rudiger Von Wechmar of Germany.

He had a rather unusual election, where he was elected by drawing lots and after two rounds of secret balloting it left him in a locked position with his opponent, Mohammed Kaiser of Bangladesh.

Kittani was representing a nation that was still recovering from an invasion that was carried out by his country to its neighboring nation (Iran).

Retirement and death Kittani retired in 1989 and went on to help diplomats in their UN careers. On October 23, 2001 he died at the age of 72 due to cancer. He was survived by a son named Dara.