Egypt on Thursday laid to rest its
veteran diplomat Boutros Boutros-Ghali, holding a
funeral procession with top honors in the capital, Cairo,
followed by a service at the nation's largest Coptic
cathedral for the man who was the first U.N. chief
from Africa.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi led the
procession, walking at the front of the cortege as a
horse-drawn hearse carried Boutros-Ghali's flag-draped
coffin. The head of Egypt's Coptic Church attended the
service in Cairo, along with senior dignitaries.
Eulogizing Boutros-Ghali, the Coptic patriarch, Pope
Tawadros II, said Egypt was bidding "farewell to this
fine example in Egyptian life and in Egyptian history."
UNESCO chief Irina Bokova, representing the United
Nations, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby,
and his predecessor Amr Moussa and other Egyptian
ministers and officials attended the service at the
Coptic Cathedral in the Abbassia district in Cairo.
At U.N. headquarters in New York and U.N. offices
around the world, flags flew at half-staff in honor of
the sixth U.N. secretary-general.
The 193-member General Assembly paid tribute to
Boutros-Ghali, led by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon who said that as the first post-Cold War
secretary-general he "helped the United Nations find its
footing in a new global landscape" at a tumultuous
time.
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