Kofi Annan was the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, responsible for dealing with a variety of issues ranging from nuclear weapons and world poverty to ozone depletion and civil wars.
Born Kofi Atta Annan on 8th April 1938, in the Kofandros section of Kumasi, Ghana, his name indicates the day of the week he was born and his place in his family; Kofi indicates a boy born on a Friday, and Annan denotes that he was the fourth child of his family.
Born as a twin (a special meaning in Ghanaian culture), his twin sister Efua Atta died in 1991.
His family was part of the country’s elite, both of his grandfathers and his uncle were tribal chiefs, and his parents are from the two major ethnic groups that make up the Akan, – one of the groups of indigenous people of Ghana.
Kofi studied at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi and completed work in economics at Macalester College in St Paul, Minnesota, USA in 1961. Annan then studied at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland (1961-62), later attending the MIT Sloan School of Management (1971-72) where he received a Masters degree in management.
He started working for the World Health Organisation in Geneva, an agency of the United Nations in 1962, where he later also served with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Working at the UN, Kofi held several senior positions in a diverse range of areas, including human resource management and budget and finance. Most memorably he became Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping (1992-1996), at a time when nearly 70,000 military and civilian personnel were deployed in UN operations around the world.
On 13th December 1996, Annan was selected to be the Secretary-General, of the United Nations and started his first term on 1st January 1997, (replacing Boutros Boutros Ghali, of Egypt).
Facing formidable challenges in his new role, his first headline grabbing crisis was attempting to negotiate face to face with Saddam Hussein in 1998 to ensure compliance with Security Council resolutions. Kofi has gone on to bring international action to stop the violence in East Timore and sought a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians. He’s also focused on reforming the UN, and attempting to end poverty and bring peace and prosperity to Africa.
On 1st January 2002, Kofi started his second 5 year term as Secretary General of the UN. A major testament of the belief held in him by the member states of the United Nations.
Kofi Annan is married to Nane Annan of Sweden, a lawyer and artist. He is fluent in English, French and several African languages and on 10th December 2001 Annan and the United Nations jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize, for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.