Diego Cordovez, UN envoy who brokered Soviet exit from Afghanistan, dies at 78

Diego Cordovez, an abidingly patient diplomat for the United Nations who coaxed -- from warring parties who would not speak to each other -- a series of agreements that led to the Soviet Union's withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, died May 24 in Quito, Ecuador. He was 78.

His death was announced in a statement by a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. No cause was cited.

Born in Ecuador and trained as a lawyer, Cordovez joined the staff of the United Nations in his late 20s and contributed to the resolution, or attempted resolution, of crises around the world.

He was best known for his role as a UN undersecretary-general for political affairs during the conflict in Afghanistan, which pitted the Soviet-backed Kabul government against insurgent Muslim mujahideen, who received support from the United States.

One of the final proxy battles of the Cold War, it was a brutal conflict that, according to estimates at the time, killed one in 15 Afghans and forced one out of three from the country.

Cordovez was credited with deploying his considerable forbearance, an irresistible sense of humor and a more than occasional cigar to achieve a successful end to the negotiations.

From the outset, he faced a daunting task. Initially the Soviets, who had invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and maintained 115,000 troops in the country, rejected UN brokerage of a peace agreement. Afghan guerrillas refused to negotiate with the Kabul government. Pakistan, which was dispatched to represent the guerrillas, was similarly opposed to face-to-face talks.

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Cordovez approached the problem by first dealing separately with the various sides. He gradually moved the adversaries closer to each other -- first literally, then diplomatically -- by placing their representatives in separate but nearby rooms at the Palais des Nations in Geneva and scurrying back and forth.

Cordovez also dashed to and from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Soviet Union and the United States. When the negotiations seemed unpromising, Cordovez affected a labored gait -- a message to observers that the process was still limping along.

The Geneva agreements that provided for the Soviet pullout were signed in 1988 by Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Soviet Union and the United States.

Although the accords were regarded as a monumental achievement, Afghanistan continued to confront persistent internal tumult.

Diego Cordovez Zegers was born Nov. 3, 1935, in Quito.

Cordovez received degrees in political science and law from the University of Chile. In the early years of his UN career, he served on missions in the Dominican Republic during bloody conflict in 1965 and in the newly established nation of Bangladesh in the early 1970s.

In 1988, Cordovez left the United Nations to serve as Ecuador's foreign minister. He later was his country's ambassador to the United Nations.