DEC. 3, 1991 Boutros-Ghali becomes UN secretary-general
Serving from 1992 to 1996, the Egyptian diplomat was the only Arab to assume the role
HOW WE
It is no secret to those close to Boutros-Ghali that not being named foreign minister made his heart heavy all his life.
SUMMARY
On Dec. 3, 1991, Egyptian politician Boutros BoutrosGhali was appointed the sixth secretary-general of the
United Nations, becoming the first person from the African continent to hold the post. He was elected by the Security Council, beating out 14 other candidates.
Earlier in his career, BoutrosGhali had played a prominent negotiating role in the Camp David Accords, which led to the signing of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979.
But repeated clashes with the US became the overriding theme of Boutros-Ghali’s fiveyear term as secretary-general, which coincided with a number of challenging crises, chiefly in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Somalia. Although he ran unopposed for re-election in 1996, a US veto meant he became the first sitting secretary-general to be denied a second term.
one term, amid strong opposition from the US.
Despite his career in the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, he only assumed the role of minister of state for foreign affairs and was never named foreign minister. It is no secret to those close to Boutros-Ghali that not being named foreign minister made his heart heavy all his life, even though one of the nicknames the Egyptians gave him was “the father of popular diplomacy.” Boutros-Ghali was elected to the post of UN secretary-general in 1991 and faced great difficulties during his tenure. He wrote about these difficulties in his book,
“Five Years in a Glass House,” in which he revealed many hidden matters, including America’s role in the crises that swept the world at that time. His book also shed light on his souring relationship with Washington, which he described as being content with loud external positions, while pushing the UN into raging battles without providing it with real power or the necessary funds. This souring relationship ultimately cost him his role. Boutros-Ghali explained that there were several reasons for the US veto against his nomination for a second term, including political pressures related to the 1996 US presidential election, disagreements between the US and UN over issues like the Bosnian War and the Rwandan genocide, and tensions over the outstanding dues of the US to the UN.
After leaving the UN, BoutrosGhali headed the Organization Internationale de la
Francophonie as its first secretary-general. He also chaired Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights, before resigning in February 2011 following the outbreak of the Jan. 25 events and the departure of Mubarak.
Among Boutros-Ghali’s stances that Egyptians remember the most was when they overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood and he wrote to Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretarygeneral at the time, saying: “What happened in Egypt on June 30, the day that saw protests demanding the removal of Mohammed Morsi, was a full-fledged revolution, during which a fascist regime in a religious guise was eliminated.” Boutros-Ghali wrote that the role of the UN, with all its mechanisms and components, was to “achieve international peace and security and cooperation between states,” and that what it produces must seek to “fulfill its principles and charter to serve peace, security and justice, and fight terrorism.” He also wrote that “the people of Egypt revolted to eliminate a fascist regime that had a religious guise and worked to divide society in favor of one faction at the expense of all the other people.” He added that the people of Egypt also revolted
“to eliminate a regime that deepened discrimination.” Boutros-Ghali passed away on Feb. 16, 2016, at the age of 93, in a hospital in Cairo. He was preparing to travel abroad in a UN air ambulance, which had arrived to transport him from Cairo to Paris to complete his treatment and undergo urgent surgery. However, his fate was to pass away in Cairo, holding on to it until the last breath, as if Egypt refused to let his soul leave its lands — out of loyalty to him and in appreciation for his time and effort. He dedicated his life to Egypt from a young age.