Former UN chief Javier Pérez de Cuéllar dies aged 100

LIMA — Former United Nations secretary general Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, who played a crucial role in securing an international settlement that led to Namibia’s independence, has died aged 100.

Pérez de Cuéllar’s son told local radio station RPP he died at his home in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday. During his two terms as UN secretary general, he brokered peace agreements in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Perez de Cuellar himself said his role in securing independence for Namibia had been one of his proudest achievements. Another key achievement was negotiating a ceasefire between Iran and Iraq in 1988 after eight years of conflict.

António Guterres, the current UN secretary general, said in a statement that he was “profoundly saddened” by the news. “He was an accomplished statesman, a committed diplomat and a personal inspiration who left a profound impact on the United Nations and our world,” Guterres added.

In a tweet, Peru’s president, Martín Vizcarra, called Pérez de Cuéllar “a full-hearted democrat who dedicated his entire life to work to enlarge our country”.

Pérez de Cuéllar studied law before embarking on a diplomatic career with Peru’s foreign ministry. He served in embassies across Europe and Latin America, and joined Peru’s delegation to the first UN General Assembly in 1946.

At the UN, he presided over the influential security council and, as a special representative, brokered a peace deal between Greece and Turkey in 1974, following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

In 1981 he was named as the UN’s fifth secretary general – its first from Latin America – and led the international body during some of the most critical years of the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union.

– BBC News

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