Today I pay tribute to one of the world's preeminent diplomats and agents of peace, as the we mourn the loss of former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The news for, the most part, is abuzz with his failings, and not entirely without reason. His term of office saw genocide occur in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Yet something tells me, he would not have objected to this. He once said of the organization he lead: "One of the reasons the UN was founded was the need for a scapegoat when a crises escalates. After all, when things are easy everyone else is happy to mediate and get all the glory."
His time in office mirrored the manner in which he was selected. Boutras-Ghali alone, among the eight men to have head the United nations, was selected by the broader international community, rather than just the P5, when the Non-Aligned Movement insisted on an African Secretary-General. More so than his successors, he stood up the world's superpowers, and insisted on the Organization's independence. In the end this was his undoing, since caused the US to veto his renomination.
His greatest achievement, though, came outside the United Nations. As Minister of State for Affairs, he was part of the Egyptian delegation at Camp David, and had a hand in the important first step towards solving the still ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.
May he rest peace.
