10 facts about late UN chief, Kofi Annan
Former UN Secretary General, Ghanaian-born diplomat Mr. Kofi Atta Annan died on Saturday morning, in a Swiss hospital at the age of 80. Below are some facts you may not have known about him – Annan was born in Kumasi, in central Ghana, Africa, on April 8, 1938 – Kofi and his twin sister Efua […]
Former UN Secretary General, Ghanaian-born diplomat Mr. Kofi Atta Annan died on Saturday morning, in a Swiss hospital at the age of 80.
Below are some facts you may not have known about him
– Annan was born in Kumasi, in central Ghana, Africa, on April 8, 1938
– Kofi and his twin sister Efua shared the same middle name “Atta”, which means “twin” in Akan.
– He is the seventh secretary of the peace-keeping body.
– He is the first black African to head that organization and was awarded the Nobel Prize
– Annan was appointed secretary-general, the top post of the UN, by the UN General Assembly in December 1996. And he began serving his four-year term of office on January 1, 1997.
– As the Secretary-General, he reformed the UN bureaucracy and carried out projects like working to combat HIV, especially in Africa; and launched the UN Global Compact.
– After he left UN, he founded the Kofi Annan Foundation in 2007 to work on international development, strengthen the ties between different countries in other to achieve a fairer and more secure world.
– Some popular quotes by him include:
“We need to keep hope alive ad strive to do better”
“We may have different religions, different languages, different coloured 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”
– He introduced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in year 2000, to help in the eradication of poverty
– In 2001, Mr. Annan won the Nobel peace prize for his reforms in the UN as well as giving priority to human rights.