Former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who served during the break-up of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan Genocide, has died. He was 93.
Boutros-Ghali died on Tuesday at a hospital in the Egyptian city of Giza, but there was no immediate word on the cause of death. His passing was first announced in New York City by UN Security Council President Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño, who then led the council in observing a moment of silence in honor of Boutros-Ghali.
Born in Egypt in 1922, Boutros-Ghali served as deputy foreign affairs minister from 1991 and became foreign affairs minister in 1977. He went on to become Secretary-General of the United Nations in January 1992 and made it a goal to “seize the opportunities” offered by the post-Cold War era in order to strengthen the international body. He faced several world crises during his five-year term, including the break-up of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan Genocide.
After serving as chief of the United Nations, he went on to become the first Secretary-General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, which is an international organization that represents dozens of French-speaking countries.
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