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Boutros Boutros-Ghali

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Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Arabic: بطرس بطرس غالي, Coptic: Bουτρος Βουτρος-Γαλι) (born November 14, 1922) is an Egyptian diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996.

Academic career

Boutros Boutros-Ghali was born in Cairo into a Coptic Christian family (Boutros being the Arabized form of Petros, the Coptic form of the name Peter) that had already provided Egypt with a prime minister (Boutros Ghali, 1846 – 1910). He graduated from Cairo University in 1946 and earned a Ph.D. in international law from the University of Paris as well as a diploma in international relations from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (best known as simply Sciences Po) in 1949. The same year, he was appointed Professor of International Law and International Relations at Cairo University, a position which he held until 1977. 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

He had long been closely associated with the ruling clique in Egypt. His political career took off during the days of former president Anwar El-Sadat. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Arab Socialist Union (1974-77). He had 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 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

UN career

Elected to the top post of the UN in 1991, Boutros-Ghali's term in office remains controversial. He was criticised for the UN's failure to act during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, which officially left about 937,000 people dead, and he appeared unable to muster support in the UN for intervention in the continuing Angolan Civil War. One of the hardest periods for his office during his term was dealing with the crisis of the Yugoslav wars after the disintegration of former Yugoslavia. His reputation thus became entangled in the larger controversies over the effectiveness of the UN and the role of the United States in the UN. For his detractors, he came to symbolise the UN's alleged inaction in the face of humanitarian crises.

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 this resolution, although all four of those nations voted in support of Boutros-Ghali after the US had firmly declared its intention to veto. Although not the first vetoed (China vetoed the third term of Kurt Waldheim in 1981), Boutros-Ghali was the first and only UN secretary-general not to be elected to a second term in office. He was succeeded at the UN by Kofi Annan.

US counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke, Michael Sheehan, and Jamie Rubin participated in what they called "Operation Orient Express." From page 201 of Clarke's book Against All Enemies: "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.')"

Later life

From 1997 to 2002 Boutros-Ghali was Secretary-General of La Francophonie, an organisation of French-speaking nations. From 2003 to 2006, he served as the Chairman of the Board of the South Centre, an intergovernmental research organisation 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, he is still holding this position till today.

Since April 2007 Boutros-Ghali supports 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.

In Popular Culture

Boutros-Ghali's distinctive double name has been used for comedic effect in several television programs.

In the UK Comedy series Believe Nothing, the host of a game show is called Boutros-Boutros Ghali (prompting Rik Mayall to ask "Can I call you Boutros-Boutros, Boutros-Boutros?")

In 2002, Boutros-Ghali appeared in a segment of Da Ali G Show episode "War". Ali G introduced his guest as "Boutros Boutros Boutros-Ghali" and wrapped up the interview by thanking "Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros-Ghali" for his participation. Boutros-Ghali also mocked himself at one point by saying, "I am Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Put down your gun and listen to Bob Marley."

In the early 1990s an episode of the CBC political satire TV show Royal Canadian Air Farce featured an exchange between two characters where, by adding/revealing words to each other one at a time, the conversation ultimately led to the phrase "Boutros Boutros-Ghali's really bally Sally Rally/Gala".

The phrase "Boutros Boutros-Ghali" was used as part of a mock parody of the Spanish language in a recurring sketch on the British TV comedy show The Fast Show. "Boutros Boutros-Ghali" appears to have meant "goodbye".

In an episode of Seinfeld titled "The Hamptons", when Jerry and Kramer see George's girlfriend topless, Kramer says "YoYo Ma" to which Jerry responds "Boutros Boutros-Golly!"

Boutros-Ghali was a regular feature in the Top 10 list feature on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman. In 1997 a list entitled "Top Ten Ways Celebrities Can Raise 33.5 Million Dollars" included the suggestion that Boutros Boutros-Ghali could "Auction off a 'Boutros'". A May 6 1994 Top Ten List entitled "Top Ten Boutros Boutros-Ghali Pick-up Lines" included the entries "Can I can I buy you a drink a drink?", and "It must be fate - you don't have any boutroses, and I've got one to spare!". He was also referred to as "Boutros Boutros-Ghali: the man so nice they named him twice".

In the sitcom Family Matters, the character Myra Monkhouse gives her full name as "Myra Boutros-Boutros Monkhouse".

Boutros-Ghali was called "one of the most important people in the world" second only to "Flibber Flabber Flinger Boo-Boo" in a strip for Get Fuzzy, written by Darby Conley.

The Animaniacs song "U.N. Me" played on Ghali's name in a different way: "Boutrous Boutrous Ghali-gee/Down by the East Riverside/Leads the General Assembly"

In the panel quiz QI, Stephen Fry informs us the literal translation of Boutros Boutros-Ghali is "Peter Peter- Expensive". In the radio quiz I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, while giving quotes that famous people would never have said, Tim Brooke-Taylor suggested Ghali would never say "Oh, so you're called Boutros Boutros-Ghali as well?"

There is an Icelandic non-league football (soccer) team that honoured the former Secretary-General by naming the team after him.

On BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles Breakfast show, he occasionally play a 'Good Morning' jingle with Boutros Boutros Gali's name at the end of it.

The New York-based post-modern jug band Washboard Jungle wrote and performed the song "Boutros-Boutros Ghali", featured on their disc "The Brown Album". The song includes such memorable couplets as "He's a child of all the earth, together we gave birth to Boutros-Ghali", along with permutations of his name ("Boutros-Boutros Ghali, Ghali-Ghali Boutros").

Works

Boutros-Ghali has published two memoirs:

Quotes

  • "It would be some time before I fully realised that the United States sees little need for diplomacy. Power is enough. Only the weak rely on diplomacy… The Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States.
  • "The best way to deal with bureaucrats is with stealth and sudden violence.

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See also

References

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