Ex-U.N. chief Pérez de Cuéllar dies at 100
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the fifth U.N. chief from 1982 to 1991, who arranged an Iraq-Iran cease-fire and aided democracy in his native Peru, died at age 100.
United Nations (U.N.)
Founded at the end of World War II, the New York-based United Nations is an international organization with 193 member nations. It began with 50 nations meeting at San Francisco in 1945 to maintain international peace and security. Over two months, the U.N. Charter was created as the basis for the organization's hope of preventing another world war. Founding members Britain, China, France, the Soviet Union and the United States took permanent veto-wielding seats on the powerful Security Council.
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