Kofi Annan

 Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, was born in Kumasi, Ghana in 1938. He came of age amidst his country’s debates surrounding decolonization and nationalism, and witnessed Ghana’s transition from colonial rule to independent rule in 1957, the same year he graduated from boarding school.

Mr. Annan enrolled at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi the following year, where he quickly distinguished himself as a brilliant student in the areas of business and economics. His high marks and commitment to student government helped him earn a Ford Foundation scholarship, which enabled him to study at Macalester College in Minnesota. He then received a graduate degree from the Institut universitaire des hautes études internationales in Geneva, as well as a Master of Science in management as a Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Shortly after, in 1962, Mr. Annan began his career in the United Nations, working as an administrative and budget officer with the World Health Organization in Geneva.

Mr. Annan subsequently worked with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, the United Nations Emergency Force in Ismailia, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He also served as Assistant Secretary General for Human Resources Management and Security Coordinator for the U.N. System (1897-1990),  Assistant Secretary-General for Programme Planning, Budget and Finance, and Controller (1990-1992), Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations (March 1992-February 1993) and Under-Secretary-General from 1993 until his appointment as Secretary-General in 1997.

Before Mr. Annan’s appointment as Secretary-General, he was involved with a number of special assignments on behalf of the United Nations, including the repatriation of more than 900 international staff and citizens of Western countries from Iraq following the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He also led the negotiations for the first “oil for food” program in Iraq, coordinating the sale of oil in an effort to fund humanitarian aid. In addition, from November 1995 until March 1996, Mr. Annan provided crucial leadership as Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the former Yugoslavia, overseeing the transition in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the United Nations Protection Force to the multinational Implementation Force led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Since Mr. Annan’s appointment as Secretary-General, he has greatly improved the efficiency and organization of the United Nations, and has also helped it re-establish itself as the international leader in peacekeeping, humanitarian, and conflict resolution missions throughout the world. His first major initiative as Secretary-General was a reform plan entitled Renewing the United Nations, which placed increased emphasis on “improving coherence and coordination” throughout the organization. His other accomplishments early in his term included his distribution of a report entitled The Causes of Conflict and the Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development in Africa, attempts in 1998 to negotiate Iraq’s compliance on the Security Council Resolutions, a “mission to help promote the transition to civilian rule in Nigeria” (1998), an “agreement to resolve a stalemate between Libya and the SC over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing” (1999), extensive diplomatic efforts to “forge an international response to violence in East Timor” (1999), the certification of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon (1999), and steady encouragement of the Israelis and Palestinians to use peaceful negotiations based on “land for peace” resolutions in efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.

Secretary-General Annan has sought to foster “closer partnerships with civil society, the private sector and other non-State actors whose strengths complement those of the United Nations.” In a Millennium Report entitled We the Peoples, the Secretary-General called upon Member States to “commit themselves to an action plan for ending poverty and inequality, improving education…safeguarding the environment and protecting peoples from deadly conflict and violence.” The report served as the basis for the Millennium Declaration adopted at the United Nations Millennium summit in September 2000.

Secretary-General Annan has been an outspoken advocate for women’s rights, as well as an important leader in the U.N.’s efforts to prevent the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Considering the epidemic his “personal priority”, Mr. Annan issued a five-point “Call to Action” in April 2001, addressing the spread of HIV/AIDS and establishing a Global AIDS and Health Fund that would facilitate increased spending in developing countries entrenched in the HIV/AIDS crisis.

In December of 2001, Secretary-General Annan and the United Nations won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee said that the Secretary-General “had been pre-eminent in bringing new life to the Organization” and hoped that such a recognition would convey their certainty “that the only negotiable road to global peace and cooperation goes by way of the United Nations.”

Secretary-General Annan is married to Nane Annan of Sweden. A lawyer and artist, she has focused much of her attention on the HIV/AIDS crisis and improving education for women worldwide, and has written children’s book about the United Nations. The Annans have three children.