Former UN Chief Boutros Boutros-Ghali Dies At 93 Tuesday February 16,2016

 

Former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, whose term was marked by war in the former Yugoslavia and famine and genocide in Africa, has died, the president of the Security Council said on Tuesday February 16,2016. He was 93.

The 15-member Security Council observed a minute's silence after the death was announced by Venezuelan U.N. Ambassador Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno, head of the Security Council for February. No details were given.

An Egyptian, Boutros-Ghali served as U.N. chief from 1992 to 1996.

As the United Nations' first secretary-general from Africa, Boutros-Ghali associated himself with the famine in Somalia and organized the first massive U.N. relief operation in the Horn of Africa nation.

But success eluded him there and elsewhere as the United Nations tottered in an increasingly disorderly post-communist world, with the world body and the big Security Council powers underestimating the deep animosity behind many conflicts.

He had a reputation for being prickly, and U.S. displeasure with him was the driving force in his departure.

Earlier, Boutros-Ghali had worked for Egyptian presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. He accompanied Sadat on the historic 1977 visit to Jerusalem and played a prominent role in the subsequent Camp David accords on the Middle East.

He was criticized for the U.N.'s failure to act during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and for not pushing hard enough for U.N. intervention to end Angola's civil war in the 1990s, which was at the time one of the longest running conflicts in the world.

Boutros-Ghali found himself jeered in Sarajevo, Mogadishu and Addis Ababa. His style was to wade into crowds and confront protesters when security guards permitted. "I am used to fundamentalists in Egypt arguing with me," he told

He shocked many in Sarajevo when he said he was not trying to belittle the horrors in Bosnia but that there were other countries where the "total dead was greater than here."

He told Somali warlords and clan leaders to stop accusing the United Nations and him of colonialism, adding that Somalis should be worried that former colonial powers would ignore their plight if they continued to fight.

"The Cold War is finished," he said. "Nobody is interested in the poor countries in Africa or anywhere in the world. They can easily forget Somalia in 24 hours." 

Note

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the UN Secretariat

Appointment of the Secretary-General 
The selection is subject to the veto of any of the 5 permanent Members of the UNSC
The appointment and approval process of the Secretary-General is outlined in the UN Charter .These include a limit to two five-year terms, regional (continental) rotation of the appointee’s national origin, and the appointee may not be a citizen of any of the Security Council’s five permanent members.

Term of  Secretary-General
Secretaries-General serve for 5-year terms that can be renewed indefinitely, although none so far has held office for more than two terms

The current Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon(South Korea) who took office on Jan 1, 2007 and his first expired on Dec 31,2011. However,he was re-elected unopposed to a second term on June 21,2011




 Secretary Generals of the UN

S No	Secretary General’s Name	Nationality	Tenure	Remarks
1	Trygve Lie	Norway	Feb 2,1946 – Nov 10,1952	Resigned
2	Dag Hammarskjold	Sweden	April 10,1953 – Sep 18,1961	Died in Plane Crash
3	U Thant	Burma	Nov 30,1961 – Dec 31,1971	Declined 3rd Term
4	Kurt Waldheim	Austria	Jan 1,1972 – Dec 31,1981	China Vetoed his 3rd Term
5	Javier Perez de Cuellar	Peru	Jan 1,1982 – Dec 31,1991	Refused to be considered for a 3rd term
6	Boutros Boutros-Ghali	Egypt	Jan 1,1992 – Dec 31,1996	UN Vetoed his 2nd Term
7	Kofi Annan	Ghana	Jan 1,1997 – Dec 31,2006	Retired after 2 terms
8	Ban Ki-moon	South Korea	Jan 1,2007 - Present	Incumbent