World leaders pay tribute to Kofi Annan

WORLD leaders have paid tribute to former United Nations secretarygeneral Kofi Annan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he admired Annan for his wisdom and courage.

The Kremlin’s press office quoted Putin’s message to the current UN chief on Saturday, which offered condolences to the UN as well as Annan’s family and his native Ghana.

‘‘I sincerely admired his wisdom and courage as well as his ability to make balanced decisions even under the most dire and critical circumstances,’’ Putin says.

‘‘Russians will keep the memory of him forever.’’

Annan spent virtually his entire career as an administrator in the UN, serving two terms as secretarygeneral from January, 1997 to December, 2006, capped nearly midway when he and the UN were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted ‘‘we will never forget his calm and resolute look, nor his strength in battles.’’

British Prime Minister Theresa May tweeted that Annan ‘‘made a huge contribution to making the world he has left a better place than the one he was born into.’’

In Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a tweet called Annan ‘‘a towering global leader and an unwavering champion for peace, justice and rule of law. Rest in peace, my dear old friend.’’

Nato Secretarygeneral Jens Stoltenberg tweeted that Annan’s ‘‘warmth should never be mistaken for weakness . . . The UN and the world have lost one of their giants.’’

Former South African archbishop Desmond Tutu said ‘‘we give great thanks to God’’ for him.

He said the Ghanaianborn Annan ‘‘represented our continent and the world with enormous graciousness, integrity and distinction.’’

Annan took over from Tutu as chair of The Elders, an elite group of former leaders founded by Nelson Mandela.

Tutu called Annan’s death an ‘‘unexpected and devastating loss.’’