Former UN head Boutros Boutros-Ghali dead

Cairo, Feb 16 : Former UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali died at a hospital here on Tuesday, officials said. He was 93.

Boutros-Ghali was earlier admitted to the hospital with a broken pelvis, BBC reported citing Egypt's state news agency.

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-Ghali was the first Arab to serve as UN chief.

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

BBC said the 15-member Security Council observed a minute's silence after the announcement.

A former foreign minister of Egypt, Boutros-Ghali led the UN during one of its most difficult times, with crises in Somalia, Rwanda, the Middle East and the former Yugoslavia.

He was born on November 14, 1922 into a Coptic Christian family in Cairo. He was educated at Cairo University and in Paris.

He later studied international relations at Columbia University in New York and became Egypt's foreign minister in 1977 under then president Anwar al-Sadat.

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

In 2004, he was named president of Egypt's human rights council, a body created by then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Ghali resigned in 2011, the year Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising, Xinhua reported.