Twenty-nine years ago today, December 31, 1996 (November 21, 1996, the first United Nations Secretary-General from Africa left office. File photo of former United Nations Secretary-General Ghali in 1992. At 12 noon on December 31, 1996, it is customary for the United Nations to hold a press briefing. However, the door to the conference room was closed today, and Ms. Foa, the chief spokesperson of the United Nations Secretary-General, was nowhere to be seen. As Ghali's term came to an end, Foa was the first United Nations official to announce his resignation. It is said that she will spend a year writing a new book,"Try a New Life." Arriving on the first floor of the lobby, the reporter found that photographers and video photographers had already regarded the elevator exit as the focus of today's news. It turned out that several famous television stations in the United States had received advance news that Secretary-General Ghali left the United Nations at 1 p.m. They came here early to seize a favorable position and prepare to shoot the last news of the United Nations in 1996. Outside the door, a Gali special car with license plate "Diplomatic 00008A" and a police car were waiting quietly in the wind and rain. This is a "Mercedes-Benz" bulletproof car given to Mr. Gali by the German government. I finally squeezed into front of the guardrail, and there were still 30 minutes before Gali left. Radio is also broadcasting the news that Gali is about to leave. United Nations employees working in the building came here one after another, and the elevator was soon packed, competing to witness the glorious retirement of this strong fighter. At 1 o'clock, more than 10 deputies including UN Under-Secretaries-General Yasushi Akashi and Jin Yongjian appeared one after another and lined up on both sides of the elevator. After a while, security personnel announced that the elevator Gali was taking would arrive soon, and there was a burst of warm applause in the hall. Gali was dressed in a light-colored suit and had an elegant demeanor. There was a bit of stubbornness in the corner of his smiling lips. Perhaps it was this stubbornness that made Americans find him difficult to tame and determined to make him a scapegoat for domestic political disputes in the United States. It is this stubbornness that strengthens his courage to fight American hegemony. Mr. Ghali, 74, is the first Secretary-General of the United Nations from Africa and the first Secretary-General to not get a second chance. The United States exercised veto power on Ghali's second term on the grounds that Ghali was "ineffective in reforming the United Nations." However, everyone with discerning eyes knows very well that the United States is dissatisfied because of the conflict between Ghali and the United States on handling the issues of Somalia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and severely criticized the United States for its arrears of more than US$1 billion in dues to the United Nations. However, Ghali did not succumb to U.S. pressure and still announced his candidacy for the next secretary-general to fight for the rights that Africans should enjoy. When the deadlock was difficult to break, Mr. Ghali took the initiative to suspend his candidacy as the next Secretary-General from the overall situation of Africa, allowing Mr. Annan from Ghana to stand out, thus finally realizing the right of Africans to be re-elected as the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The people who saw off shook hands with Gali and said goodbye with admiration. Ghali walked to the microphone that had been prepared long ago to wish everyone a happy New Year, wish the United Nations success, and wish Annan success. He also told everyone that he was planning to return to Cairo via Paris and would continue to serve the United Nations as a world celebrity in the future. People watched as Gali walked out of the door, and a staff member quickly draped a coat over him. The reporter chased after the door and suddenly found the Secretary-General's chief spokesman, Foa, waiting next to the car and was the last one to kiss Gali goodbye. As the car closed, the black Mercedes-Benz in which Gali was riding quickly disappeared into the wind and rain. The people who saw him off stopped in the hall for a long time and silently blessed him: May the good people have a safe journey.