Tributes pour in for Annan
Kofi was first UN chief from sub-Saharan Africa
Geneva – From his native Africa to the US, tributes continued to pour in from around the world on Sunday after former UN chief, Nobel peace prize laureate and “diplomatic rock star” Kofi Annan died on Saturday at the age of 80.
The Ghanaian national was a career diplomat who projected quiet charisma and was widely credited for raising the world body’s profile in global politics during his two terms as head of the UN from 1997 to 2006.
The first secretary-general from sub-Saharan Africa, Annan led the UN through the divisive years of the Iraq war and was later accused of corruption in the oil-for-food scandal, one of the most trying times of his tenure.
Annan “astutely guided the UN organisation into the 21st century, defining an ambitious agenda that had made the UN truly indispensable to peace, prosperity and human dignity around the world”, Annan’s successor as UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said in a statement.
Annan’s family said he had passed away peacefully after a short illness. Annan, who lived not far from the UN European headquarters in Geneva, died in a Bern Hospital, Swiss media reported.
Current UN chief Antonio Guterres described his predecessor as “a guiding force for good. In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations”.
“He rose through the ranks to lead the organisation into the new millennium with matchless dignity and determination,” Guterres said.
The UN said it would fly flags at half mast at all of its locations around the world tomorrow.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has announced a week of mourning for “one of our greatest compatriots”.
Fellow Nobel peace prize laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu described Annan as “an outstanding human being who represented our continent and the world with enormous graciousness, integrity and distinction”.
Born in Kumasi, the capital city of Ghana’s Ashanti region, Annan devoted four decades of his working life to the UN and was the first chief to rise from within the organisation’s ranks.
In 1993, he took over as peacekeeping chief – a position he held through two of the UN’s darkest chapters: the Rwandan genocide and the Bosnian war.
His tenure as UN chief was tarnished by a 2005 investigation of Annan and his son over the oil-for-food scandal, seen by some as payback for his comments that the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq was “illegal”.
An inquiry cleared Annan of any serious wrongdoing, but found ethical and management lapses linked to his son Kojo’s ties with a Swiss firm that won lucrative contracts in the oil-for-food scheme.
Annan later admitted the scandal had sorely tested his mettle not only as secretarygeneral but as a father.
Despite the lows, he left the post as one of the most popular UN leaders ever, and was considered a “diplomatic rock star” in international diplomatic circles.
After ending his second term as UN chief, he kept up his diplomatic work, taking high-profile mediation roles in Kenya and in Syria, and more recently leading an advisory commission in Myanmar on the crisis in Rakhine state.
He enjoyed some success in ending post-election turmoil in Kenya in 2007, and on Saturday the two main players in that crisis, former president Mwai Kibaki and his opposition rival Raila Odinga, celebrated his efforts.
Annan resigned from the peace mission for Syria in 2012 after just a few months, saying a Security Council stalemate had turned it into a “mission impossible”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed his “wisdom and courage”, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel celebrated the “exceptional statesman in the service of the global community”.
US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said Annan “worked tirelessly to unite us and never stopped fighting for the dignity of every person”.
It was still not immediately clear when Annan will be buried at the time of publication on Sunday as funeral arrangements were still under way. –