Boutros Boutros-Ghali, First U.N. Chief From Africa, Dies

He was quite a political figure. Whether good or evil. Imy interested in the viewpoints of others. I remember him from the Clinton years. He made a lot of friends, as well as fren-emies...

Either way, history is once more made with the passing of one who made a large contribution.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a veteran Egyptian diplomat who helped negotiate his country's landmark peace deal with Israel but then clashed with the United States when he served a single term as U.N. secretary-general, has died. He was 93.

Boutros-Ghali, the scion of a prominent Egyptian Christian political family, was the first U.N. chief from the African continent. He stepped into the post in 1992 at a time of dramatic world changes, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a unipolar era dominated by the United States.

L I N K

I wonder where the pillow was?

They're a sleeping hazard these days.

He was a real gem alright.

Right up there with international pirates like Kofi Annan too.

According to investigative journalist Linda Melvern, Boutros-Ghali approved a secret $26 million arms sale to the government of Rwanda in 1990 when he was Egyptian Foreign Minister, the weapons stockpiled by the Hutu regime as part of the fairly public, long-term preparations for the subsequent genocide. He was serving as UN Secretary-General when the killings occurred four years later.


...... Elected in 1991 as Secretary-General, the top post of the UN, Boutros-Ghali's term in office remains controversial. In 1992, he submitted An Agenda for Peace, a suggestion for how the UN could respond to violent conflict. However, he was criticised for the UN's failure to act during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, which officially left over one million people dead, and he appeared unable to muster support in the UN for intervention in the continuing Angolan Civil War.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

a reply to: Signals

It IS interesting, huh Signal?

Sad for the guy's family and friends, but frankly, I wish the UN as an entity would just die.