18/1/2002
Cyrus Vance Dies at 84

Cyrus Vance, the former US Secretary of State in President Carter's administration died this week in New York at the age of 84. In addition to playing senior roles in government under several US Presidents, Cyrus Vance also carried out a number of European missions for the UN most notably in the Balkans.

Among other assignments, Mr. Vance served as UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar's Personal Envoy to Yugoslavia at the outset of the Balkans conflict. Mr. Vance later served, along with Lord Owen, as Co-Chairman of the Steering Committee of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, which at the time provided a permanent negotiating forum for seeking a political solution to all the problems of the former Yugoslavia.

In July 1993, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appointed Mr. Vance to carry out his good offices on the differences between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece. Mr. Vance held numerous talks while serving in that position until his resignation - for personal reasons - in December 1999. At the time of his resignation, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan paid tribute to Mr. Vance as a great statesman whose wise counsel would be missed

Mr Annan said that he was deeply saddened to learn of Cyrus Vance's death describing him as "a very dear friend of mine, and a great servant of his country, of the United Nations and of humanity."