Boutros Boutros-Ghali[a] (14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixthSecretary-General of the United Nations from 1992 to 1996. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Boutros-Ghali was the actingMinister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt between 1977 and 1979. He oversaw the United Nations over a period coinciding with several world crises, including thebreakup of Yugoslavia and theRwandan genocide.
Born to aCoptic Christian family in Cairo, Boutros-Ghali was an academic by training and taught international law and international relations atCairo University from 1949 to 1979. His political career began during the presidency ofAnwar Sadat, who appointed him acting foreign minister in 1977. In that capacity, he helped negotiate theCamp David Accords and theEgypt–Israel peace treaty between Sadat and Israeli prime ministerMenachem Begin. He was acting foreign minister until early 1991, when he served as deputy foreign minister for a few months.
After leaving the UN, Boutros-Ghali served as the firstSecretary-General of La Francophonie from 1997 to 2002. He then became chairman of theSouth Centre, an intergovernmental think tank for developing countries. He died in 2016, in Cairo at the age of 93.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali was born inCairo,Egypt, on 14 November 1922 into aCoptic Orthodox Christian family.[1][2][3] His father Yusuf Butros Ghali was the son ofBoutros GhaliBey thenPasha (also his namesake), who wasPrime Minister of Egypt from 1908 until he was assassinated in 1910.[4][5] His mother, Safela Mikhail Sharubim, was daughter of Mikhail Sharubim (1861–1920), a prominent public servant and historian.[6] The young boy was brought up by a Slovenian nanny, one of the so-calledAleksandrinke [sl]; he was closer to Milena, "his invaluable friend and confidant", than to his own mother.[7]
Boutros-Ghali's political career developed during thepresidency ofAnwar Sadat. He was a member of the Central Committee of theArab Socialist Union from 1974 to 1977. He served as Egypt'sMinister of State for Foreign Affairs from 1977 until early 1991. He then became Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs for several months before moving to the UN. As Minister of State, he played a part in thepeace agreements between President Sadat and Israeli prime ministerMenachem Begin.[10]
According to investigative journalistLinda Melvern, Boutros-Ghali approved a secret $26 million arms sale to thegovernment of Rwanda in 1990, when he was foreign minister, the weapons stockpiled by theHutu regime as part of the fairly public, long-term preparations for the subsequentgenocide. He was serving as UN secretary-general when the killings occurred four years later.[11][page needed][12]
Boutros-Ghali ran forSecretary-General of the United Nations in the 1991 selection. The top post in the UN was opening up asJavier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru reached the end of his second term, and Africa was next in the rotation. Boutros-Ghali tiedBernard Chidzero of Zimbabwe in the first two rounds of polling, edged ahead by one vote in round 3, and fell behind by one vote in round 4. After several countries withdrew their support for Chidzero, fed by fears that the United States was trying to eliminate both of the leading candidates, Boutros-Ghali won a clear victory in round 5.[13]
Boutros-Ghali's term in office remains controversial. In 1992, he submittedAn Agenda for Peace, a suggestion for how the UN could respond to violent conflict. He set three goals: for the UN to be more active in promoting democracy, for the UN to conduct preventative diplomacy to avert crises, and to expand the UN's role as peacekeeper.[14] Although the goals were consistent with those of US presidentGeorge H. W. Bush, he nevertheless repeatedly clashed with the United States, especially with his efforts to enlist the support of the US, to involve UN more deeply in the civil warsin Somalia (1992) andin Rwanda (1994). The United States refused to sendpeace enforcement units under UN leadership.[15]Malaysian Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad called on Boutros-Ghali to resign for failing to take any firm action to help resolve the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.[16]
The US journalistMark Bowden argues that he was responsible for an escalation of the Somalia crisis by undertaking a personal vendetta againstMohamed Farrah Aidid and hisHabar Gidir clan, favouring their rivals, theDarod, the clan of the former dictatorSiad Barre. In Bowden's opinion, it was believed that he demanded the12 July 1993 US helicopter attack on a meeting of Habar Gidir clan leaders, who were meeting to discuss a peace initiative put forward by the leader of the UN Mission inMogadishu, retired US AdmiralJonathan Howe. Bowden further suggests that most of the clan elders were eager to arrange peace and rein in the subversive activities of their clan leader Aidid. Still, after this attack on a peaceful meeting, the clan was resolved to fight the Americans and the UN, leading to theBattle of Mogadishu on 3–4 October 1993.[19]
Boutros-Ghali ran unopposed for the customary second term in 1996, despite efforts by the United States to unseat him. US ambassadorMadeleine Albright denounced him as "disengaged" and "neglect[ful]" ofgenocide in Rwanda.and demanded Boutros-Ghali resign. He refused and seemingly had the votes. He won 14 of the 15 votes in the Security Council, but the sole opposing vote was a US veto.[20][21] After four deadlocked meetings of the Security Council, France offered a compromise in which Boutros-Ghali would be appointed to a short term of two years, but the United States rejected the French offer. Finally, Boutros-Ghali suspended his candidacy, becoming the second Secretary-General ever to be denied re-election by a veto, withKurt Waldheim being the first.[22][23]
From 1997 to 2002, Boutros-Ghali wasSecretary-General of La Francophonie, an organisation of French-speaking nations. From 2002 to 2005, he served as the chairman of the board of theSouth Centre,[24] an intergovernmental research organisation of developing countries. Boutros-Ghali played a "significant role"[25] in creating Egypt'sNational Council for Human Rights and served as its president until 2012.[26][27]
Boutros-Ghali supported theCampaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly and was one of the initial signatories of the Campaign's appeal in 2007. In a message to the Campaign, he stressed the necessity to establish democratic participation of citizens at the global level.[28] From 2009 to 2015, he also participated as a jury member for the Conflict Prevention Prize, awarded every year by theFondation Chirac.[29]
^Reid, Donald M. (1982). "Political Assassination in Egypt, 1910–1954".The International Journal of African Historical Studies.15 (4):625–651.doi:10.2307/217848.JSTOR217848.
^ Thomas Blood, Madame Secretary (1997) pp.199–215.
^Linda Fasulo, "Chapter 14, The Coup Against Boutros-Ghali". in Fasulo,An Insider’s Guide to the UN (4th edition, Yale University Press, 2008, pp. 134-138.https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300133516-017
Fasulo, Linda. "CHAPTER 14. The Coup Against Boutros-Ghali" in Fasulo,An Insider’s Guide to the UN (Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 134–138.https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300133516-017
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