Boutros Ghali, first African UN Secretary-General dies

Boutros Ghali, first African UN Secretary-General dies

Wednesday, February 17, 2016 12:52 am


Boutros Ghali: dies at 93

Boutros Ghali: dies at 93

The United Nations has announced the death of the 93 year old former UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt.

Boutros-Ghali was the UN’s sixth secretary general and the first African to occupy the post.

He served a single term between 1992 and 1996.

Rafael Carreno, Venezuelan Ambassador to the UN, announced his death to the UN Security Council without giving any details. 

An academic and former Vice Foreign Minister of Egypt, Boutros-Ghali oversaw the UN at a time when it dealt with several world crises, including the break-up of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan Genocide.

He was then the first Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie from November 1997 to December 2002. He died in a hospital in Cairo, Egypt, after having been admitted for a broken pelvis, 

According to Wikipedia, Boutros Boutros-Ghali was born in Cairo on 14 November 1922 into a Coptic Christian family.[2] His grandfather Boutros Ghalihad been Prime Minister of Egypt from 1908 until he was assassinated in 1910.[3]

Boutros-Ghali graduated from Cairo University in 1946.[4] He received a PhD in international law from the University of Parisand diploma in international relations from the Sciences Po in 1949. During 1949–1979, he was appointed Professor of International Law and International Relations at Cairo University. He became President of the Centre of Political and Strategic Studies in 1975 and President of the African Society of Political Studies in 1980. He was a Fulbright Research Scholar atColumbia University from 1954 to 1955, Director of the Centre of Research of the Hague Academy of International Law from 1963 to 1964, and Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law at Paris University from 1967 to 1968. He is also the Honorary Rector of the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, a branch of Kyunghee University Seoul.


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