- Born
- Died
- Birth nameKofi Atta Annan
- Height5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
- Kofi Atta Annan was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, as well as chairman of The Elders, an international organization founded by Nelson Mandela.
Annan studied economics at Macalester College, international relations at the Graduate Institute Geneva, and management at MIT. Annan joined the UN in 1962, working for the World Health Organization's Geneva office. He went on to work in several capacities at the UN Headquarters including serving as the Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping between March 1992 and December 1996. He was appointed secretary-general on 13 December 1996 by the Security Council, and later confirmed by the General Assembly, making him the first office holder to be elected from the UN staff itself. He was re-elected for a second term in 2001, and was succeeded as secretary-general by Ban Ki-moon in 2007.
As secretary-general, Annan reformed the UN bureaucracy, worked to combat HIV/AIDS (especially in Africa), and launched the UN Global Compact. He was criticized for not expanding the Security Council and faced calls for his resignation after an investigation into the Oil-for-Food Programme, but was largely exonerated of personal corruption. After the end of his term as secretary-general, he founded the Kofi Annan Foundation in 2007 to work on international development. In 2012, Annan was the UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria, to help find a resolution to the ongoing conflict there. Annan quit after becoming frustrated with the UN's lack of progress with regards to conflict resolution. In September 2016, Annan was appointed to lead a UN commission to investigate the Rohingya crisis. He died in 2018 and was given a state funeral.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bonitao
- SpousesNane Annan(1984 - August 18, 2018) (his death)Titi Alakija(1965 - 1983) (divorced, 2 children)
- RelativesAmanda Van Annan(Niece or Nephew)
- Earned Bachelor's degree from Macalester College in Minnesota, USA in 1961.
- His wife, Nane Lagergren, is related to Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who helped thousands of Hungarian Jews escape from the Nazis during World War II.
- His wife is Swedish.
- Elected Secretary General of the United Nations in January 1997.
- Re-elected for second term as Secretary General in January 2002.
- Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.
- Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.
- It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity.
- In their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda.
- Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content