Ex-UN chief Boutros Ghali dead

Former United Nations secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali died at a hospital in Cairo on Tuesday, officials said. He was 93. UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed him as a “respected statesman” and a “memorable leader who rendered invaluable services to world peace and international order”.

Boutros-Ghali was earlier admitted to the hospital with a broken pelvis, the BBC reported citing Egypt’s state news agency.

His death was confirmed by Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno, the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN and current president of the UN Security Council.

A former Egyptian foreign minister, Boutros-Ghali was the first Arab to serve as UN chief.

He took office in 1992 at a time of increasing influence for the world body following its decisive role in the Gulf War, serving a five-year term.

“I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of my predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali,” Ban said in a statement.

Boutros-Ghali “was a respected statesman” and a “well-known scholar of international law and brought formidable experience and intellectual power to the task of piloting the United Nations through one of the most tumultuous and challenging periods in its history, and guiding the Organisation of the Francophonie in subsequent years”.

Born on November 14, 1922 into a Coptic Christian family in Cairo, he was educated at Cairo University and in Paris.

He later studied international relations at Columbia University in New York and became Egypt’s foreign minister in 1977.

After leaving the UN, Boutros-Ghali served from 1998 to 2002 as secretary-general of La Francophonie, a grouping of French-speaking nations.

In 2004, he was named president of Egypt’s human rights council, a body created by then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Ghali resigned in 2011, the year Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising.