Former UN chief collapses

FORMER UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali spent the weekend in hospital after collapsing at a conference in Monaco on Saturday.

Mr Boutros-Ghali, 82, was secretary-general between 1992 and 1996.

“He was about to sit down at the lunch table when he suddenly collapsed,” said Claude de Kemoularia, who co-chairs with Mr Boutros-Ghali the Monaco Club, a political studies institute that was holding its annual meeting.

Mr Kemoularia, reached by telephone from Paris, said doctors believe the problem was caused by an “unexpected drop in blood pressure” and that he was doing better after being rushed to the hospital.

“The impression we have is that he’s not in danger,” said Mr Kemoularia, a former French ambassador to the United Nations.