Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Boutros Boutros-Ghali
6th Secretary-General of the United Nations
In office
1 January 1992 – 31 December 1996
Preceded by Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
Succeeded by Kofi Annan
Secretary-General of Francophonie
In office
1997–2002
Foreign Affairs Minister of Egypt
In office
1977–1978
Preceded by Muhammad Ibrahim Kamal
Succeeded by Mustafa Khalil
In office
1977–1977
Preceded by Ismail Fahmi
Succeeded by Muhammad Ibrahim Kamal
Personal details
Born November 14, 1922 (1922-11-14) (age 89)
Cairo, Egypt
Nationality Egyptian
Spouse(s) Leia Maria Boutros-Ghali
Religion Coptic Christian

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Arabic: بطرس بطرس غالي, Coptic: Bουτρος Βουτρος-Γαλι) (born 14 November 1922) is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from January 1992 to December 1996. An academic and former Vice Foreign Minister of Egypt, Boutros Boutros-Ghali oversaw the UN at a time when it paid attention to several world crises, including the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan Genocide.

Contents

Academic career

Boutros Boutros-Ghali was born in Cairo into a Coptic Christian (Boutros being the Arabic version of the Greek word πέτρος (petros).[1] His grandfather Boutros Ghali had been Prime Minister of Egypt from 1908 until he was assassinated in 1910.

Boutros-Ghali graduated from Cairo University in 1946. He received a Ph.D. in international law from the University of Paris and a diploma in international relations from the Sciences Po in 1949. In 1979, he was appointed Professor of International Law and International Relations at Cairo University, a position which he held until 1999. He became President of the Centre of Political and Strategic Studies in 1975 and President of the African Society of Political Studies in 1980. He was a Fulbright Research Scholar at Columbia University from 1954 to 1955, Director of the Centre of Research of the Hague Academy of International Law from 1963 to 1964, and Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law at Paris University from 1967 to 1968. He is also the Honorary Rector of the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, a branch of Kyunghee University Seoul.

Egyptian political career

His political career developed during the presidency of Anwar El Sadat. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Arab Socialist Union from 1974 to 1977. He served as Egypt's Minister 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 for Foreign Affairs, he played a part in the peace agreements between President Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.[2]

According to investigative journalist Linda Melvern, Boutros-Ghali approved a secret $26 million arms sale to the government of Rwanda in 1990 when he was Egyptian Foreign Minister, the weapons stockpiled by the Hutu regime as part of the fairly public, long-term preparations for the subsequent genocide. He was serving as UN Secretary-General when the killings occurred 4 years later.[3]

UN career

Elected as secretary-general, the top post of the UN, in 1991, Boutros-Ghali's term in office remains controversial. In 1992, he submitted An Agenda for Peace, a suggestion for how the UN could respond to violent conflict. However, he was criticised for the UN's failure to act during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, which officially left over 1 million people dead, and he appeared unable to muster support in the UN for intervention in the continuing Angolan Civil War. One of the hardest tasks during his term was dealing with the crisis of the Yugoslav wars after the disintegration of former Yugoslavia. His reputation became entangled in the larger controversies over the effectiveness of the UN and the role of the United States in the UN.

Nomination for second term

In 1996, ten Security Council members, led by African members Egypt, Guinea-Bissau and Botswana, sponsored a resolution backing Boutros-Ghali for a second five-year term, until the year 2001. However, the United States vetoed a second term for Boutros-Ghali. In addition to the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, South Korea, and Italy did not sponsor the resolution, but the last four nations voted in support of Boutros-Ghali after the US had firmly declared its intention to veto. Although not the first vetoed candidate (China vetoed the third term of Kurt Waldheim in 1981), Boutros-Ghali was the only UN secretary-general not to be elected to a second term in office. He was succeeded at the UN by Kofi Annan.

Richard Clarke (US counter-terrorism czar), Michael Sheehan, and James Rubin participated in what they called "Operation Orient Express". Clarke wrote:

Albright and I and a handful of others (Michael Sheehan, Jamie Rubin) had entered into a pact together in 1996 to oust Boutros-Ghali as Secretary General of the United Nations, a secret plan we had called Operation Orient Express, reflecting our hope that many nations would join us in doing in the UN head. In the end, the US had to do it alone (with its UN veto) and Sheehan and I had to prevent the President from giving in to pressure from world leaders and extending Boutros-Ghali's tenure, often by our racing to the Oval Office when we were alerted that a head of state was telephoning the President. In the end Clinton was impressed that we had managed not only to oust Boutros-Ghali but to have Kofi Annan selected to replace him. (Clinton told Sheehan and me, 'Get me a crow, I should eat a crow, because I said you would never pull it off.')[4]

Richard Holbrooke wrote that the US was opposed to Boutros-Ghali because of the latter's reluctance on approving NATO bombing in Bosnia (something that Kofi Annan supported). He notes that US opposition to the Secretary General was opposed by all its allies.[5] Stanley Meisler, biographer of Kofi Annan, writes that Boutros Ghali's reluctance in bombing the Serbs in Bosnia stemmed from French and British opposition to the tactic, as both countries had provided most of the UN peacekeepers and feared that the Serbs would retaliate against their soldiers.

Meisler instead suggests that Clinton sought to veto Boutros Ghali's second term to increase his own popularity, as Senator Bob Dole had denounced Boutros-Ghali on numerous occasions.[6]

Later life

From 1997 to 2002 Boutros-Ghali was Secretary-General of La Francophonie, an organization of French-speaking nations. From 2003 to 2006, he served as the Chairman of the Board of the South Centre,[7] an intergovernmental research organization of developing countries. He is currently President of the Curatorium Administrative Council at the Hague Academy of International Law. In 2003 Boutros-Ghali was appointed as The Director of the Egyptian National Council of Human Rights, a position he still holds.

Since April 2007 Boutros-Ghali has supported the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly and was one of the initial signatories of the Campaign's appeal. In a message to the Campaign, he stressed the necessity to establish democratic participation of citizens at the global level.[8]

Film and television appearances

Boutros-Ghali appears as himself in the documentary film, Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace. In his interviews with Director Harry Hunkele, Boutros-Ghali describes his role and that of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in bringing about the peace accord between Egypt and Israel in March 1979.[9]

Boutros-Ghali was the inspiration behind the comedic language in the BBC comedy The Fast Show. Specifically, the parody of Greek state television (and also much Southern Mediterranean TV) – Chanel 9. The sketch always ended with the characters announcing "Boutros Boutros-Ghali" in place of "Goodbye".[10]

Boutros-Ghali was interviewed by Ali G, a character of British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.[11] The interview appeared on the "War" episode of Da Ali G Show.[12]

Boutros-Ghali is mentioned in the 1994 Seinfeld episode "The Hamptons." Jerry reacts to Georges's topless date by saying "Boutros Boutros-Ghali"

Boutros-Ghali is mentioned in the Friends episode "The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break". He is named in a conversation between Phoebe, her date, her date's translator, and Monica.

Boutros-Ghali is mentioned on the NBC show Community in the episode "Geography of Global Conflict".

Works

As Secretary-General, Boutros-Ghali wrote An Agenda for Peace.

Boutros-Ghali has published two memoirs:


See also

References

  1. ^ Boutros Boutros-Ghali Biography, Encyclopedia of World Biography
  2. ^ Boutros Boutros-Ghali: The world is his oyster
  3. ^ Melvern, Linda (2000). A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide. London: Zed. ISBN 1856498301.  Washington Monthly Review
  4. ^ Clarke, Richard (2004). Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror. New York: Free Press. p. 201. ISBN 0743260244. 
  5. ^ Holbrook, Richard (1999). To End a War. New York: Modern Library. p. 202. ISBN 0375753605. 
  6. ^ Stanley Meisler (1996-10-18). "Getting Rid of Boutros-Ghali". http://www.stanleymeisler.com/news-commentary/boutros.html. 
  7. ^ South Centre website
  8. ^ "MESSAGE FROM DR. BOUTROS BOUTROS GHALI" (PDF). International campaign for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. http://www.unpacampaign.org/documents/en/BBG200705.pdf. 
  9. ^ http://tvfestival.net/Pressreleaseuk.pdf
  10. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fastshow/characters/chanel9.shtml
  11. ^ IMDb > "Da Ali G Show" War (2003). Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  12. ^ IMDb > "Da Ali G Show" (2003) > Episode list, "Season 1, Episode 2: War. Original Air Date—28 February 2003." Retrieved August 29, 2010.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
Peru
United Nations Secretary-General
1992–1996
Succeeded by
Kofi Annan
Ghana