Former UN Secretary General, Boutros   Boutros- Ghalli's contribution to World peace remembered


The late UN Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, died at age 93 in Egypt yesterday.  

Boutros-Ghali, an Egyptian politician and diplomat, served as the sixth UN Chief from 1992 to 1996. Born in Cairo on Nov 14, 1922, he was the first Arab to serve as UN Secretary-General. 

His ascent, as the Secretary-General was a watershed moment not just for Boutros-Ghali but for Africa as well. 

He was the first man from Africa to be in charge of a body that included representatives from around the world, including its most powerful nations, as well as the organization's first Arab leader.  

This ascent meant Boutros-Ghali had a front-row seat as numerous crises played out, like Rwanda's genocide, war in Angola and the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia. 

He also authored "An Agenda for Peace," a report focused on"preventive diplomacy,peacemaking and peacekeeping.  

Boutros-Ghali's time at the top, however, didn't last.

The United States, which had criticized him for refusing to cut the United Nations' budget and over what was then happening in Bosnia, vetoed his bid for a second five-year term, making him then and now the U.N.'s shortest-tenured Secretary-General. 

Thus, Boutros-Ghali gave way to another African, Kofi Annan, in the same prestigious spot.  

He became a member of the Egyptian Parliament in 1987 and was part of the secretariat of the National Democratic Party from 1980. 

Until assuming the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations, he was also Vice President of the Socialist International.  

In September 1978, Boutros-Ghali attended the Camp David Summit Conference and had a role in negotiating the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel, which were signed in 1979. He also headed Egypt's delegation to the General Assembly sessions in 1979, 1982 and 1990.  


GBC