Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan was the seventh secretary general of the UN. First appointed to a five-year term in January 1997, Annan was re-appointed in June 2001 for a second term.
He was born in Kumasi, Ghana, on April 8, 1938, a member of an upper-class merchant family that had descended from tribal chiefs. While boarding at a high school in Ghana, he conducted a successful hunger strike to protest against the poor quality of food.
He went on to the University of Science and Technology at Kumasi, then Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Institut des hautes études internationales in Geneva, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Master's degree in management.
Annan is the first black secretary general and the first secretary general to have worked his way to the top job through the ranks, being a 30-year UN veteran. He performed brilliantly in the early 1990s, negotiating the release of western hostages from Iraq after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. In 1994, Annan directed the withdrawal of UN forces from Somalia. In the mid-1990s, he served as the special representative for the UN peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia. He went on to negotiate with Iraq to allow weapons inspectors into that country.
"Peacekeeping is always cheaper than war," Annan told a news conference in March 1994. But his voice of peace lost out to American unilateralism in 2003 when a U.S.-led coalition launched an invasion of Iraq. For months Annan, backed by a chorus of UN member states, urged U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to allow UN weapons inspections in Iraq to conclude before invading.
The pleas went by the wayside as two of the UN's most powerful member states – also permanent members of the Security Council – broke from the collective to go their own way. It was a blow to the credibility of Annan and the United Nations that brought into question the future of the organization.
Perhaps the darkest chapter of Annan's tenure came in 1994 when he was in charge of peacekeeping operations during the horror in Rwanda, when 800,000 Tutsi civilians and Hutu moderates were massacred by Hutu militants. Annan acknowledged the inadequate performance of the UN in that tragedy, but he angered many Rwandan lawmakers at the time by not apologizing for the UN's dismal performance.
Annan later did apologize – twice – for the UN role in the Rwandan genocide. He acknowledged that the UN and its member states failed Rwanda and its people during the 100-day genocide and expressed his "deep remorse" that more wasn't done to stop it. He also pledged to use a highly critical report to ensure that another mass slaughter of civilians doesn't happen again.
In an article for the New York Times in January 1999, Annan wrote: "For Americans, the Presidency has been seen as a bully pulpit, at least since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. I have sought to make the Office of Secretary General a pulpit, too. From New York to Tehran to Harare and to Shanghai, I have sought, without attacking specific regimes or individuals, to use it as a vehicle for promoting the values of tolerance, democracy, human rights and good governance that I believe are universal."
During his term as secretary general, Annan has proved to be an efficient administrator. By implementing tough cost-cutting measures, he has saved the UN some $100 million. He was also instrumental in convincing media magnate Ted Turner to contribute $1 billion to the UN.
Annan is regarded as a dignified, soft-spoken gentleman, an idealist, and a man of compassion, tact and courage who inspires great loyalty among those who work for him.
Annan has a daughter, Ama, and a son, Kojo, from his first marriage to a Nigerian woman. He later married Nane Lagergan of Sweden, who served as a legal officer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. She now works as an artist.
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Quick Facts
Born: April 8, 1938 in Kumasi, Ghana
Secretary General: 1997-2001 and 2001-2006
Joined UN: 1962
Languages: English, French, several African languages
Family: Wife Nane, a Swedish lawyer and artist. The Annans have three children from previous marriages.
