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Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-18/kofi-annan-dies-at-80-former-un-chief/10136268
Mr Annan, one of the world's most celebrated diplomats and a charismatic symbol of the UN who rose through its ranks to become its first black African secretary-general, died on Saturday. He was 80.
Tributes flowed in from around the world after his foundation announced his death in the Swiss capital, Bern, after a short and unspecified illness. The statement remembered the Nobel Peace Prize winner as "radiating genuine kindness, warmth and brilliance in all he did".
In Geneva, the Kofi Annan Foundation announced the death with "immense sadness", saying he was surrounded in his last days by his second wife Nane and children Ama, Kojo and Nina.
At UN headquarters in New York, the UN flags flew at half-mast and a bouquet of flowers was placed under Mr Annan's portrait.
Reflecting the widespread regard that won him a ground-breaking uncontested election to a second term, leaders from Russia, India, Israel, France and elsewhere expressed condolences for a man Bill Gates called "one of the great peacemakers of our time."
Mr Annan, a Ghanaian national, was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the UN in 2001.
Mr Annan served two terms as UN secretary-general in New York from 1997-2006, retired in Geneva and later lived in a Swiss village in the nearby countryside.
'In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations'
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, who Mr Annan chose to head the UN refugee agency, said, "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," Mr Guterres said in a statement.
“In these turbulent and trying times, he never stopped working to give life to the values of the United Nations Charter. His legacy will remain a true inspiration for all of us.”
— @AntonioGuterres on the passing of @KofiAnnan, 18 Aug 2018
Leaders around the world were quick to honour Mr Annan, praising both his work and his character.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-addo praised Mr Annan as "an ardent believer in the capacity of the Ghanaian to chart his or her own course onto the path of progress and prosperity".
Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote to the UN chief offering his condolences, saying Mr Annan "did a great deal to realise the purposes and the goals of the organisation, strengthening its central role in world affairs".
"I sincerely admired his wisdom and courage, his ability to make balanced decisions even in the most difficult, critical situations," he wrote.
French President Emmanuel Macron said "we will never forget his calm and strong-willed look, nor the passion he gave for his fights".
British Prime Minister Theresa May said Mr Annan "made a huge contribution to making the world he has left a better place than the one he was born into."
PHOTO: Mr Annan with fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former South African leader Nelson Mandela. (AP)
Former US president George W Bush called Mr Annan "a gentle man and a tireless leader".
"His voice of experience will be missed around the world," he said.
Fellow former president Barack Obama said: "Long after he had broken barriers, Kofi never stopped his pursuit of a better world."
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said: "The UN and the world have lost one of their giants."
"We give great thanks to God for Kofi Annan, an outstanding human being who represented our continent and the world with enormous graciousness, integrity and distinction," said former South African archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called him, "a towering global leader and an unwavering champion for peace, justice and rule of law".
Even the producers of children's television show Sesame Street weighed in, calling Mr Annan, "a passionate ambassador for Sesame Street and the world's children".
A career in the UN
Mr Annan spent virtually his entire career as an administrator in the UN. His aristocratic style, cool-tempered elegance and political savvy helped guide his ascent to become its seventh secretary-general, and the first hired from within.
During his tenure as secretary-general, Mr Annan presided over some of the worst failures and scandals at the world body. Challenges from the outset forced him to spend much of his time struggling to restore its tarnished reputation.
When he departed from the UN, he left behind a global organisation far more aggressively engaged in peacekeeping and fighting poverty, setting the framework for its 21st-century response to mass atrocities and its emphasis on human rights and development.
Mr Annan returned to the UN in special roles, including as the UN-Arab League's special envoy to Syria in 2012. He remained a powerful advocate for global causes through his eponymous foundation.
Mr Annan took on the top UN post six years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and presided during a decade when the world united against terrorism after the September 11 attacks — then divided deeply over the US-led war against Iraq. The US relationship tested him as a world diplomatic leader.
"I think that my darkest moment was the Iraq war, and the fact that we could not stop it," Mr Annan said in a February 2013 interview with TIME magazine to mark the publication of his memoir, Interventions: A Life in War and Peace.
His 10-year-old foundation promotes good governance and the transformation of African agriculture.
The challenges
As head of UN peacekeeping operations, Mr Annan was criticised for the world body's failure to halt the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s.
As UN boss he was linked to peace efforts to reunite the divided island of Cyprus.
He submitted a reunification blueprint for Cyprus which was rejected in a referendum by Greek Cypriots in 2004.
"The UN can be improved — it is not perfect — but if it didn't exist you would have to create it," he told the BBC's Hard Talk during an interview last April.
"I am a stubborn optimist, I was born an optimist and will remain an optimist," Mr Annan added.
UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, paid tribute to Mr Annan as "humanity's best example, the epitome of human decency and grace".
The high commissioner, who has criticised major powers and other countries during his four-year term that ends later this month, said whenever he felt "isolated and alone politically", he would go for long walks with Mr Annan in Geneva.
"When I told him once how everyone was grumbling about me, he looked at me like a father would look at a son and said sternly: 'You're doing the right thing, let them grumble'.
"Then he grinned."
Mr Annan, one of the world's most celebrated diplomats and a charismatic symbol of the UN who rose through its ranks to become its first black African secretary-general, died on Saturday. He was 80.
Tributes flowed in from around the world after his foundation announced his death in the Swiss capital, Bern, after a short and unspecified illness. The statement remembered the Nobel Peace Prize winner as "radiating genuine kindness, warmth and brilliance in all he did".
In Geneva, the Kofi Annan Foundation announced the death with "immense sadness", saying he was surrounded in his last days by his second wife Nane and children Ama, Kojo and Nina.
At UN headquarters in New York, the UN flags flew at half-mast and a bouquet of flowers was placed under Mr Annan's portrait.
Reflecting the widespread regard that won him a ground-breaking uncontested election to a second term, leaders from Russia, India, Israel, France and elsewhere expressed condolences for a man Bill Gates called "one of the great peacemakers of our time."
Mr Annan, a Ghanaian national, was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the UN in 2001.
Mr Annan served two terms as UN secretary-general in New York from 1997-2006, retired in Geneva and later lived in a Swiss village in the nearby countryside.
'In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations'
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, who Mr Annan chose to head the UN refugee agency, said, "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," Mr Guterres said in a statement.
“In these turbulent and trying times, he never stopped working to give life to the values of the United Nations Charter. His legacy will remain a true inspiration for all of us.”
— @AntonioGuterres on the passing of @KofiAnnan, 18 Aug 2018
Leaders around the world were quick to honour Mr Annan, praising both his work and his character.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-addo praised Mr Annan as "an ardent believer in the capacity of the Ghanaian to chart his or her own course onto the path of progress and prosperity".
Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote to the UN chief offering his condolences, saying Mr Annan "did a great deal to realise the purposes and the goals of the organisation, strengthening its central role in world affairs".
"I sincerely admired his wisdom and courage, his ability to make balanced decisions even in the most difficult, critical situations," he wrote.
French President Emmanuel Macron said "we will never forget his calm and strong-willed look, nor the passion he gave for his fights".
British Prime Minister Theresa May said Mr Annan "made a huge contribution to making the world he has left a better place than the one he was born into."
PHOTO: Mr Annan with fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former South African leader Nelson Mandela. (AP)Former US president George W Bush called Mr Annan "a gentle man and a tireless leader".
"His voice of experience will be missed around the world," he said.
Fellow former president Barack Obama said: "Long after he had broken barriers, Kofi never stopped his pursuit of a better world."
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said: "The UN and the world have lost one of their giants."
"We give great thanks to God for Kofi Annan, an outstanding human being who represented our continent and the world with enormous graciousness, integrity and distinction," said former South African archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called him, "a towering global leader and an unwavering champion for peace, justice and rule of law".
Even the producers of children's television show Sesame Street weighed in, calling Mr Annan, "a passionate ambassador for Sesame Street and the world's children".
A career in the UN
Mr Annan spent virtually his entire career as an administrator in the UN. His aristocratic style, cool-tempered elegance and political savvy helped guide his ascent to become its seventh secretary-general, and the first hired from within.
During his tenure as secretary-general, Mr Annan presided over some of the worst failures and scandals at the world body. Challenges from the outset forced him to spend much of his time struggling to restore its tarnished reputation.
When he departed from the UN, he left behind a global organisation far more aggressively engaged in peacekeeping and fighting poverty, setting the framework for its 21st-century response to mass atrocities and its emphasis on human rights and development.
Mr Annan returned to the UN in special roles, including as the UN-Arab League's special envoy to Syria in 2012. He remained a powerful advocate for global causes through his eponymous foundation.
Mr Annan took on the top UN post six years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and presided during a decade when the world united against terrorism after the September 11 attacks — then divided deeply over the US-led war against Iraq. The US relationship tested him as a world diplomatic leader.
"I think that my darkest moment was the Iraq war, and the fact that we could not stop it," Mr Annan said in a February 2013 interview with TIME magazine to mark the publication of his memoir, Interventions: A Life in War and Peace.
His 10-year-old foundation promotes good governance and the transformation of African agriculture.
The challenges
As head of UN peacekeeping operations, Mr Annan was criticised for the world body's failure to halt the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s.
As UN boss he was linked to peace efforts to reunite the divided island of Cyprus.
He submitted a reunification blueprint for Cyprus which was rejected in a referendum by Greek Cypriots in 2004.
"The UN can be improved — it is not perfect — but if it didn't exist you would have to create it," he told the BBC's Hard Talk during an interview last April.
"I am a stubborn optimist, I was born an optimist and will remain an optimist," Mr Annan added.
UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, paid tribute to Mr Annan as "humanity's best example, the epitome of human decency and grace".
The high commissioner, who has criticised major powers and other countries during his four-year term that ends later this month, said whenever he felt "isolated and alone politically", he would go for long walks with Mr Annan in Geneva.
"When I told him once how everyone was grumbling about me, he looked at me like a father would look at a son and said sternly: 'You're doing the right thing, let them grumble'.
"Then he grinned."
