"I tried to insist on the necessity of introducing a definition for terrorism when I was the secretary general, since there was for instance state terrorism. State terrorism is when a whole country is using terrorist acts in its policy connected with the fight for independence. We must know how to evaluate this," he said.
He said the UN members must work out a common agreement on this matter.
Boutros-Ghali said terrorism had always existed in the history of nations and the only novelty is that it has become a global problem.
"Terrorists are using global technology to carry out large-scale acts by creating a network," he said. According to Boutros-Ghali, the specific character of today's terrorism in the Middle East is its attachment to religion. However, the opinions of small groups do not correspond in reality with the opinion of the majority of Muslims in the world.
Boutros-Ghali said the fight against terrorism must be conducted in two directions - in a practical direction, which includes police work, and in an ideological direction. "It is necessary to understand the psychology of terrorists, what is on their minds, to correct their incorrect interpretation of religion and politics and make them understand that their actions are against their religion, international law, and themselves as well," he said.
He proposed to hold an international conference on this issue to join the efforts of all countries and work out common rules. "Sometimes terrorism occurs at local levels, but on the whole it is an international phenomenon, and common regulations and standards would help to fight it," he said, mentioning the situation where Scandinavian states refused to hand over fugitive terrorists to Egypt since they had different laws.
Boutros-Ghali said it is not only recently that terrorist acts happened in Egypt. In 1945 in the Parliament building fundamentalists assassinated Prime Minister Ahmed Maher-Pashi, who had declared war against Germany and Japan.
Boutros-Ghali disagreed with the opinion that terrorism is directly connected with the confrontation between the North and the South. "Terrorist acts happen in developed countries perpetrated by their own citizens, for instance by Basques in Spain. Similar organizations exist in Germany, the United States, and Japan; terrorism is not limited to attacks from the South," he said.
He also said the world community must not concentrate only on one terrorist branch, the Islamic, but also on terrorism as a whole, in order to work out a global approach to the fight against the terrorism.
Boutros-Ghali served as UN Secretary General (1992-1996) and Egypt's Foreign Minister (1977-1991). Today he is president of the Human Rights Commission in Egypt and head of the South Centre, an international organization of developing countries, in Switzerland. Boutros-Ghali is currently on a visit to Beirut.
