in El Salvador, the fight between Contras and Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the civil war in Guatemala, and the American incursion in Panama. "What interested me most was to cover the different stages in the peace process which took place in that period," he says. To witness the absurdity of war, while showing the values of peace is what Manoocher continued to do thereafter, in the Middle East as in North Africa and former Yugoslavia. Post 1990 In 1990, he covered the Persian Gulf War. From 1991 to 1995 he was based in Cairo as director of the AFP regional photo service. He notably photographed the rise of Islamist militancy in Egypt, the war and famine in Sudan and Somalia. Leaving that region for reportage in ex-Yugoslavia, he returned to follow the first steps of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. From 1995, based in Jerusalem for AFP, he concentrated on this question, With his brother Reza, he co-founded Webistan Photo Agency which has been distributing their own images but also those of several other photographers since 1991. In September 1996, Manoocher was gravely wounded by an Israeli sniper in Ramallah, on the West Bank of the Jordan, during a confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians. Repatriated to France, he spent two years in physical therapy at the Invalides hospital for war veterans. He used this time to interview and report on the veterans of all the French wars of this century, from the “poilus” of 1914-18 to the UN blue helmets wounded in ex-Yugoslavia. Since December 1998, Manoocher has worked for the AFP bureau in Paris. From 1998 to 2001, Manoocher covered the international and national stories for the Agence France Presse. In 2000, he was wounded covering the visit of the French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, in Ramallah, Palestine. When he recovered from wounds, he went to Afghanistan in 2002 to found Aina Photo which has become the first and most important supplier of photographs from that country. Aina Photo which is part of Aina NGO (founded by Reza Deghati) aims at providing all necessary material to afghan photojournalists to become independent and self-reliant. Currently Manoocher Deghati is Middle East Regional Photo Editor for the Associated Press, based in Cairo, Egypt. Awards 1980 American Deadline Press Club, Special Achievement Prize. 1983 World Press Photo, 1st Prize. 1986 World Press Photo, 3rd Prize. 1996 11th International Festival of SCOOP and Journalism in Angers, 1st Prize.