Boutros Ghali, who was the Secretary General of the

Venezuela's U.N. Representative Rafael Ramirez, the current president of the council, made the declaration at  the commencement of a meeting on Yemen's humanitarian emergency on Tuesday and called on member present to observe a moment of silence.

The 15 committee individuals remained in silent tribute.

Boutros-Ghali served as the Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt from May 1991 until he was designated as Secretary General. Previously, he served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from October 1997 until 1991.

Boutros-Ghali, the scion of a prominent Egyptian Christian political family, was the first UN chief from the African continent.

He stepped into the post in 1992 at a time of dramatic world changes, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a unipolar era dominated by the United States.

But after four years of frictions with the Clinton administration, the United States blocked his renewal in the post in 1996, making him the only UN secretary-general to serve a single term. He was replaced by Ghanaian Kofi Annan.

Boutros-Ghali was born in Cairo, Egypt on Nov. 14 1922, and was married to Leia Maria Boutros-Ghali.