Former United States secretary of state Warren Christopher, instrumental in negotiating peace in the former Yugoslavia’s civil war, has died at the age of 85, US media reported on Saturday.
The cause of the death mentioned in the reports was kidney and bladder cancer.
Christopher was secretary of state in the administration of former US President Bill Clinton.
A lawyer by education, Christopher was appointed secretary of state in 1993 and served for four years.
During his tenure he focused on expanding the NATO alliance, establishing peace between Israel and its neighbors and ending the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He was instrumental in negotiating the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, the Dayton Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia, and helping to uphold democracy in Haiti.
After Israel and the Palestinian secretly negotiated the Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority in exchange for Palestinian recognition of Israel’s right to exist, Christopher was chosen to host the signing ceremony.
The ceremony took place in Washington in September 1993, with Yasser Arafat signing for the Palestine Liberation Organization and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signing for Israel. — Sapa-AFP