Background

Ethnicity: Kofi Annan's father was half Asante and half Fante; his mother was Fante.

Kofi Annan was born on April 8, 1938, in Kumasi, Kumasi, Gold Coast (now Ghana), to Victoria and Henry Reginald Annan. Kofi Annan was born within minutes of his twin sister, Efua Atta. Kofi and his twin sister shared the same middle name, Atta, which means "twin" in Akan. Both of their grandfathers and uncle were tribal chiefs and they were raised in one of Ghana's aristocratic families.

Education

Kofi Annan attended the elite Mfantsipim School, a Methodist boarding school from 1954 to 1957. He showed signs of leadership at school, where he led the other boys in a hunger strike to demand better food and won. It was here that he learned "that suffering anywhere concerns people everywhere."

Upon Annan's graduation from the school in 1957, Ghana gained independence from Britain; it was the first British African colony to do so. As a member of the generation that witnessed their country’s independence struggle and subsequent victory, he grew up thinking that everything was possible.

After receiving his early education, Annan attended the College of Science and Technology, now the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in the provincial capital of Kumasi. Receiving a Ford Foundation grant enabled him to complete his undergraduate studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Even then he was showing signs of becoming a diplomat, or someone skilled in international relations. Annan received his bachelor's degree in economics in 1961. Shortly after completing his studies at Macalester College, Annan headed for Geneva, Switzerland, where he attended graduate classes in economics at the Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes Internationales. He earned a master’s degree while a Sloan fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971-1972.

Kofi Annan was also a track star at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi and at Mfantsipim School, he was a member of the track team that won first in a Minnesota championship race in 1960. Annan was also a state champion orator and president of the Cosmopolitan Club, a group that promoted friendship between the United States and international students. He was fluent in English, French, and several African languages.

Career

Annan graduated in 1961 but did not return to his homeland. Instead, he became a staff member at the United Nations, embarking upon a series of jobs that gave him valuable experience in the two vitally important areas of finance and human resources management. Annan joined the staff of the World Health Organization (WHO), a branch of the United Nations. He served as an administrative officer and as a budget officer in Geneva.

Next, after acquiring a master’s degree in management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he spent four years in the United Nation's Office of Personnel Services in New York. Annan has been an international civil servant ever since, with the exception of a short break from 1974 to 1976, when he worked as the director of tourism in Ghana.

In 1980, he went back to Switzerland, where he spent the following three years as head of personnel for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR). The UNHCR is often the only place in which refugees in war-ravaged countries can turn for help with such basic necessities as food and medical care. From 1980 to 1983, the years Annan spent there, its staff members left the Geneva headquarters for Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Hong Kong; they were also sent to Italy, Greece, and Iraq. All in all, UNHCR personnel were able to ease the suffering of more than three million terrified refugees.

He returned to the United Nations headquarters in New York City in 1983 as director of the budget in the financial services office. Later in the 1980s, he filled the post of assistant secretary-general in the Office of Human Resources Management and served as security coordinator for the United Nations. For a nine-year period from 1987 to 1996, Annan was appointed to serve as an assistant secretary-general in three consecutive positions: Human Resources, Management and Security Coordinator; Program Planning, Budget and Finance, and Controller; and Peacekeeping Operations.

While he served in that last capacity, the Rwandan genocide took place. Canadian ex-General Roméo Dallaire, who has been the force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, accused Annan of being overly passive in his responses to the 1994 genocide. Some 10 years after the genocide, in which more than 800,000 people were killed, Annan admitted that he "could and should have done more to sound the alarm and rally support."

Annan served as under-secretary-general from March 1994 to October 1995. He resumed the position in 1996 after a five-month appointment to serve as a special representative of the secretary-general to the former Yugoslavia. The United Nations Security Council recommended Annan to replace the previous secretary-general, Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, in later 1996. Because Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Annan’s predecessor as secretary-general, had alienated some member nations - most notably the United States - with his independent and aloof style, Annan entered office with the tasks of repairing relations with the United States and reforming the United Nations bureaucracy.

Soon after becoming secretary-general, he introduced a reform plan that sought to reduce the organization’s budget and streamline its operations, moves that were welcomed by the United States. In 2001 Annan was appointed to a second term. Later that year the September 11 attacks occurred in the United States, and global security and terrorism became major issues for Annan. Other priorities included restoring public confidence in the United Nations, combating the AIDS virus, especially in Africa, and ending human rights abuses. Annan is also known for his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and to Iran's nuclear program. He told the BBC in September 2004 that the Iraq war did not conform to the United Nations charter and was illegal.

Later in 2003, Annan appointed a panel to explore the United Nations’ response to global threats, and he included many of its recommendations in a major reform package presented to the United Nations General Assembly in 2005. A number of measures were later adopted; the proposal to expand the Security Council from 15 to 24 members was among those rejected.

In 2005 Annan was at the center of controversy following an investigation into the oil-for-food program, which had allowed Iraq - under United Nations supervision - to sell a set amount of oil in order to purchase food, medicine, and other necessities. A report described major corruption within the program and revealed that Annan’s son was part of a Swiss business that had won an oil-for-food contract. Although Annan was cleared of wrongdoing, he was criticized for his failure to properly oversee the program.

Annan retired on December 31, 2006. Several months prior, he gave a farewell speech to world leaders at United Nations headquarters in New York, outlining major problems with an unjust world economy and widespread contempt for human rights. Following his retirement, Annan returned to Ghana. He became involved with a number of organizations with a global focus. He was chosen to lead the formation of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, became a member of the Global Elders, and was appointed president of the Global Humanitarian Forum in Geneva. In 2009, Annan joined a Columbia University program at the university’s School of International and Public Affairs.

In February 2012, Annan was appointed as the United Nations-Arab League envoy to Syria in an attempt to end the civil war taking place there. He developed a six-point plan for peace. He resigned from the position, citing intransigence of both the Syrian government and the rebels, as well as the Security Council's failure to create a peaceful resolution. His core diplomatic effort consisted of delivering to the Syrian government a six-point proposal for ending the country’s civil war, a plan endorsed by the Security Council.

The proposal enjoined President Bashar al-Assad’s government to take significant steps, including ending all fighting operations. The Syrian government formally accepted the plan in March but continued its attacks on rebel forces and on popular demonstrations. In August Annan announced his demission as Joint Special Envoy, citing a lack of unity and political will among world powers to resolve the conflict.

Achievements

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  Kofi Annan was a global statesman and a deeply committed internationalist who fought throughout his life for a fairer and more peaceful world. Annan was the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations, the multinational organization created to, among other things, maintain world peace. He was the first black African to head that organization. Annan was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize for Peace, jointly with the Organization.
  
  During his distinguished career and leadership of the United Nations, he was an ardent champion of peace, sustainable development, human rights, and the rule of law. He has also received numerous honorary degrees and many other national and international prizes, medals, and honors. Annan is pictured on a $1.30 United Nations regular-issue postage stamp issued on May 31, 2019.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Interventions: A Life in War and Peace

    (Written with eloquence and unprecedented candor, Interven...)

    2012

Religion

Annan became a Christian in a Methodist school.

Politics

Kofi Annan was a son of Ghana and felt a special responsibility towards Africa. He was particularly committed to African development and deeply engaged in many initiatives, including his chairmanship of the Africa Progress Panel and his early leadership of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

Annan is also known for his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and to Iran's nuclear program. He told the BBC in September 2004 that the Iraq war did not conform to the U.N. charter and was illegal.

Views

Annan's main priorities as Secretary-General were a comprehensive program of reform aimed at revitalizing the United Nations and making the international system more effective. He was a constant advocate for human rights, the rule of law, the Millennium Development Goals, and Africa, and sought to bring the Organization closer to the global public by forging ties with civil society, the private sector, and other partners.

As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, he launched the Global Compact campaign in 1999, which is the world’s biggest initiative for promoting corporate social responsibility. Annan viewed the HIV/AIDS pandemic as his personal priority, and in April 2001, issued a Call to Action, proposing the establishment of a Global AIDS and Health Fund to help developing countries deal with the crisis.

Quotations: "We need to keep hope alive ad strive to do better."

"We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin but we all belong to one human race."

"The world is not ours to keep. We hold it in trust for future generations."

"Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family."

Personality

Noted for his cautious style of diplomacy, Annan was sometimes criticized for being softspoken, which some say may be mistaken for weakness.

Interests

• Fishing

• Sport & Clubs

  Track

Connections

Annan married a Nigerian woman Titi Alakija in 1965, but they later separated in the 1970s and divorced in 1983. They had two children, Ama and Kojo, together. He later got married to Nane Lagergren, a Swedish lawyer. She has a daughter from a previous marriage.

Father:

Henry Reginald Annan

Mother:

Victoria Annan

Sister:

Efua Atta Annan

ex-wife:

Titi Alakija

Daughter:

Ama Annan

Son:

Kojo Annan

Kojo is currently managing Vector Global, an investment holding company with interest in infrastructure, technology, sport, education, and biotech.

Daughter:

Nina Cronstedt de Groot

Wife:

Nane Maria Annan

Acquaintance:

Condoleezza Rice

References

• Kofi Annan: A Man of Peace in a World of War
  2007