Former Foreign Affairs Minister Rudy Insanally dies

Last Updated on Sunday, 26 November 2023, 20:54 by Denis Chabrol

Guyana’s former Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Rudolph ‘Rudy’ Insanally died on Sunday after a prolonged illness, sources confirmed.

He was 87 years old.

He was the brother of former Guyanese broadcaster, Vic Insanally.

Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd said he has since spoken with Mrs Insanally and expressed his condolences. The Foreign Affairs Ministry was later Sunday night expected to issue a statement.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Elisabeth Harper, who has worked for decades in the foreign service, said, “Obviously those who worked with him regret deeply that we have lost someone who brought dignity to his service.”.

Guyana’s former Ambassador to Kuwait, Dr Shamir Ally said. ““ It is with a heavy heart that I have learnt of the passing of Dr. Rudy Insanally, one of Guyana’s foremost diplomats and a distinguished international statesman.

Dr. Insanally’s diplomatic acumen and leadership have earned him deservedly the gratitude of our nation. As Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2001 to 2008, Dr. Insanally advanced Guyana’s national interest on the international stage. His was a life dedicated to diplomacy and particularly for advocating the cause of small states.”

Mr Insanally was a career diplomat whose first posting had been to the United States (US) in 1966. He had also served as Charge D’Affaires and subsequently Ambassador to Venezuela in the 1970s.

Among his appointments had been Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1987. He later returned to Guyana and served as Foreign Affairs Minister from 2001 to 2008.

Mr Insanally had over the decades served as Guyana’s envoy to the European Commission as well as to several individual European countries.

He had also served as Chancellor of the University of Guyana from 1994 to 2001.

He authored three books- ‘Dancing between the Raindrops: A Dispatch from a Small State Diplomat, ‘The Guyanese Culture Fusion or Diffusion?’, and ‘Multilateral Diplomacy for Small States: The Art of Letting Others Have Your Way’.