Kofi Annan global statesman dies aged 80
Kofi Annan, Nobel peace Laureate, UN secretary-general for a decade during some of the testing times peace envoy and a global statesman from Ghana
Kofi Atta Annan, born in the city of Kumasi, in what was the Gold coast in April 1938, served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006 passed away peacefully on Saturday 18th August 2018 after a short illness. He showed no signs of leadership at boarding school, where he led the other boys in a hunger strike to demand better food and won.
After studying at University first in the newly liberated Ghana, he was spotted by Ford Foundation talent scout at a meeting of African student leaders in Sierra Leone. He won a leadership grant from the agency, and enrolled in a summer programme at Harvard University. Kofi finished his undergraduate degree at Macalester college, then went on to graduate studies at the Institut Universitaire de Haute Etudes Internationales in Geneva. He returned to the US in 1971 as a Sloan Fellow at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving a master of science degree in management.He got his first job with the UN as a budget officer in the World Health Organisation. In 2001 he wins the Noble peace prize.
He later served as the UN envoy for Syria, leading efforts to find a solution to the conflict.
Once he said “ We have the means and the capacity to deal with our problems. If only we can find the political will”.
He also said “the world must make progress on addressing climate change before the process becomes irreversible.
His critics blamed him for the UN’s failure to halt the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s when he was the head of the organisation’s peacekeeping operations.
Later after US-led invasion of Iraq, he and his son were accused of being involved in the “oil for food corruption scandal”, that led some to call for his resignation though he was exonerated.
Current UN chief Antonio Guterres said “ In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations. He rose through the ranks of the organisation into the new millennium with matchless dignity and determination”.
Former US President Barack Obama, said: “Long after he had broken barriers, Kofi never stopped his pursuit of a better world.”
President Valdimir Putin of Russia said the memory od Annan would “forever live in the hearts of Russians”.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “the world has lost not only a great African diplomat and humanitarian but also a conscience keeper of international peace and security”.
In 2008, his reputation was boosted after he successfully helped negotiate a power-sharing deal to end post-election violence in Kenya. Raila Odinga, the opposition leader who signed the agreement called Annan “ the man who stepped in and saved the country from collapse”.
In 2012, he was made chair of The Elder, a peace and human rights advocacy group started by South Africa’s Nelson Mandela.
His most recent role was chairing an independent commission investigating Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis.
Annan’s wife and three children were by his side during his last days.