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Former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has died at the age of 93.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali died at a Cairo hospital on February 16, Egypt’s state news agency said, after reportedly being admitted with a broken pelvis.

His death was confirmed by Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno, the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN and current president of the UN Security Council.

As an Egyptian, Boutros Boutros-Ghali was the first Arab to serve as UN chief.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali took office in 1992 at a time of increasing influence for the world body following its decisive role in the Gulf War, serving one five-year term.

The 15-member Security Council observed a minute’s silence after the announcement, which was made at the start of a session on Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.

No further details on his death were immediately available.Boutros Boutros Ghali dead at 93

Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s five years in office were clouded by controversy, especially about perceived UN inaction over the 1994 Rwandan genocide and Angolan civil war of the 1990s.

To some, he was an effective diplomat who was caught in a rift between the UN and the United States. Others, most notably in Washington, saw him as a symbol of all that was wrong with the organization.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali was often jeered, and often waded into crowds to confront protesters when security guards permitted.

He shocked many in Sarajevo when he said he was not trying to belittle the horrors in Bosnia but that there were other countries where the “total dead was greater than here”.

After leaving the UN, Boutros Boutros-Ghali served from 1998 to 2002 as secretary general of La Francophonie – a grouping of French-speaking nations.

In 2004, Boutros Boutros-Ghali was named the president of Egypt’s new human rights council, a body created by then-Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak amid US pressure on Arab nations for democratic reform.

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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit North Korea this week, South Korea’s news agency Yonhap reports.

Yonhap cited a senior UN source for its claim, which the United Nations has declined to comment on.

If it goes ahead, it will be the first visit by a UN chief to North Korea in more than two decades.Ban Ki moon to visit North Korea

In May, North Korea abruptly canceled a visit by Ban Ki-moon just one day before he was due to arrive.

North Korea faces heavy UN, EU and US sanctions for its nuclear tests.

The report said it was likely Ban Ki-moon would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his trip. No exact date was given for the visit.

Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, would be only the third secretary general to ever visit North Korea.

The UN fought on the side of South Korea during the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 until 1953 and led to the division of the peninsula.