Boutros-Ghali a ‘memorable’ leader of U.N.
Boutros BoutrosGhali, an Egyptian diplomat who led the United Nations in a chaotic 1990s tenure that began with hopes for peace after the Cold War, but failed to cope with genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia and ended in angry recriminations with Washington, died Tuesday in an Egyptian hospital. He was 93.
His death was confirmed by the office of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Ban later made a brief appearance before reporters at the United Nations, calling BoutrosGhali “a memorable leader who rendered invaluable services to world peace and international order.”
The website of Al Ahram, Egypt’s state-owned newspaper, said BoutrosGhali died Tuesday in a hospital in Giza. He and his wife, Leia Maria Boutros-Ghali, had no children, Egyptian diplomats said.
A generation before violent protests boiled over in Cairo in 2011, Boutros-Ghali was a keystone of Egypt’s old guard diplomacy, a senior minister to President Hosni Mubarak and to his slain predecessor, Anwar Sadat. He seemed to meet the tests of character and experience when, in 1992, he became the sixth secretary general of the United Nations, the first African and the first Arab to hold the post.
The scion of a politically active Coptic Christian family, he accompanied Sadat on his historic olive-branch mission to Jerusalem in 1977, then played a pivotal role in the Camp David accords. He was at the White House when Sadat, Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Jimmy Carter signed the 1979 treaty ending a 31year state of war between Egypt and Israel, a breakthrough in the history of the Middle East conflict.
Boutros-Ghali took the helm determined to subdue aggression and pursue peace after the fall of Soviet Communism and a relaxation of East-West tensions. He also attempted to resolve the organization’s bloated bureaucracy and chronic money problems.
Prince protege, later a Christian minister, dies
Vanity, a Prince protege who renounced her sexy stage persona to become a Christian minister, has died. She was 57.
The singer and actress, born Denise Matthews, died Monday at a hospital in Fremont, Calif., said a spokeswoman for Washington Hospital Health Care System. She did not give a cause of death.
Matthews’ sister Renay said the death was from complications over longstanding kidney issues.
She said Denise Matthews was happy in recent years. “She loved her time in the ’80s, but I think she loved her recent time more, because she had been at peace,” Renay Matthews said.
A native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Matthews first rocketed to stardom through her association with Prince and the ’80s girl group Vanity 6. During her time in music, Vanity released four albums with Motown and Warner Brothers and was known for her sultry appearance and sexually-themed music, including “Nasty Girl.”
She also appeared in films in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including “The Last Dragon,” ‘‘52 Pick-Up” and “Action Jackson.”
Matthews’ health took a turn for the worse in 1992 and she was hospitalized for kidney failure, which she blamed on cocaine and other drug use.