AMBASSADOR
KOFI ATTA ANNAN FROM THE CRADLE TO GLOBAL PROMINENCE
Kofi Atta Annan (/ˈkoʊfi ˈænæn/;[1] 8 April
1938 – 18 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, from January 1997 to
December 2006. Annan and the UN were the
co-recipients of the 2001
Nobel Peace Prize.[2] He was
the founder and chairman of the Kofi
Annan Foundation, as well as chairman of The
Elders, an international organization founded by Nelson Mandela.[3]
Born in Kumasi, in then British
Gold Coast, Annan went on to study economics at Macalester
College, international relations from the Graduate
Institute Geneva and management at MIT. Annan joined the UN in 1962, working for the World
Health Organization's Geneva office. He went on to
work in several capacities at the UN Headquarters including serving as
the Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping between March 1992 and
December 1996. He was appointed as the Secretary-General on 13 December 1996 by
the Security
Council, and later confirmed by the General
Assembly, making him the first office holder to be elected from the
UN staff itself. He was re-elected for a second term in 2001, and was succeeded
as Secretary-General by Ban Ki-moon on 1 January 2007.
As the Secretary-General, Annan reformed
the UN bureaucracy; worked to combat HIV, especially in Africa;
and launched the UN
Global Compact. He was criticized for not expanding the Security
Council and faced calls for resignation after an investigation into the Oil-for-Food
Programme, but was largely exonerated of personal corruption.[4]After the end of his
term as UN Secretary-General, he founded the Kofi Annan Foundation in 2007 to
work on international
development. In 2012, Annan was the UN–Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria, to help find a resolution to the ongoing conflict there.[5][6] Annan quit after
becoming frustrated with the UN's lack of progress with regard to conflict
resolution.[7][8] In September 2016,
Annan was appointed to lead a UN commission to investigate the Rohingya
crisis.[9]
Kofi Annan was born in the Kofandros
section of Kumasi in the Gold
Coast (now Ghana) on 8 April 1938. His twin
sister Efua Atta, who died in 1991, shared the middle name Atta, which in the Akan language means 'twin'.[10] Annan and his sister
were born into one of the country's Ashanti and Fante aristocratic families; both of their
grandfathers and their uncle were tribal chiefs.[11]
In the Akan names tradition, some
children are named according to the day of the week on which they were born,
sometimes in relation to how many children precede them. Kofi in Akan is the name
that corresponds with Friday.[12] Annan said that his
surname rhymes with "cannon" in English.[13]
From 1954 to 1957, Annan attended the
elite Mfantsipim school, a Methodist boarding school in Cape Coast founded in the 1870s.
Annan said that the school taught him "that suffering anywhere concerns
people everywhere".[14] In 1957, the year Annan
graduated from Mfantsipim, the Gold Coast gained independence from the UK and
began using the name "Ghana".
In 1958, Annan began studying economics
at the Kumasi College of Science and Technology, now the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology of Ghana. He received a Ford Foundation grant, enabling him to
complete his undergraduate studies in economics at Macalester
College in St.
Paul, Minnesota, United States,
in 1961. Annan then completed a diplôme d'études approfondies DEA degree in International
Relations at The Graduate Institute of
International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland,
from 1961–62. After some years of work experience, he studied at the MIT
Sloan School of Management[15] (1971–72) in the Sloan Fellows program and earned a master's
degree in management.
Annan was fluent in English, French, Akan, and some Kru languages as well as other African languages.[16]
In 1962, Kofi Annan started working as a
budget officer for the World
Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations (UN).[17] From 1974 to 1976, he
worked as a manager of the state-owned Ghana Tourist Development Company in Accra.[18] In 1980 he became the
head of personnel for the office of the UN
High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. In
1983 he became the director of administrative management services of the UN Secretariat in New York. In 1987,
Annan was appointed as an Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources
Management and Security Coordinator for the UN system. In 1990, he became
Assistant Secretary-General for Program Planning, Budget and Finance, and
Control.[18]
When Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali established the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in 1992, Annan
was appointed to the new department as Deputy to then Under-Secretary-General Marrack Goulding.[19] Annan was subsequently
appointed in March 1993 as Under-Secretary-General of that department.[20] On 29 August 1995,
while Boutros-Ghali was unreachable on an airplane, Annan instructed United
Nations officials to "relinquish for a limited period of time their
authority to veto air strikes in Bosnia." This move
allowed NATO forces to conduct Operation
Deliberate Force and made him a favorite of the United
States. According to Richard Holbrooke, Annan's
"gutsy performance" convinced the United States that he would be a
good replacement for Boutros-Ghali.[21]
He was appointed a Special Representative
of the Secretary-General to the former Yugoslavia, serving from November 1995 to March 1996.[22][23]
In 2003, retired Canadian General Roméo Dallaire, who was
force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, claimed that
Annan was overly passive in his response to the imminent genocide. In his book Shake
Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda (2003), Dallaire
asserted that Annan held back UN troops from intervening to settle the
conflict, and from providing more logistical and material support. Dallaire
claimed that Annan failed to provide responses to his repeated faxes asking for
access to a weapons depository; such weapons could have helped Dallaire defend
the endangered Tutsis. In 2004, ten years after the genocide in which an
estimated 800,000 people were killed, Annan said, "I could and should have
done more to sound the alarm and rally support."[24]
In his book Interventions: A Life in War and Peace, Annan again argued
that the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations could have made
better use of the media to raise awareness of the violence in Rwanda and put pressure on
governments to provide the troops necessary for an intervention. Annan
explained that the events
in Somalia and the collapse of the UNOSOM II mission fostered a hesitation
amongst UN Member states to approve robust peacekeeping operations. As a
result, when the UNAMIR mission was approved just days after the battle,
the resulting force lacked the troop levels, resources and mandate to operate
effectively.[25]
In 1996, Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali ran unopposed for a second term. Although
he won 14 of the 15 votes on the Security Council, he was vetoed by the United
States.[26] After four deadlocked
meetings of the Security Council, Boutros-Ghali suspended his candidacy,
becoming the only Secretary-General ever to be denied a second term. Annan was
the leading candidate to replace him, beating Amara Essy by one vote in the
first round. However, France vetoed Annan four times before finally abstaining.
The UN Security Council recommended Annan on 13 December 1996.[27][28] Confirmed four days
later by the vote of the General Assembly,[29] he started his first
term as Secretary-General on 1 January 1997.
Due to Boutros-Ghali's overthrow, a
second Annan term would give Africa the office of Secretary-General for three
consecutive terms. In 2001, the Asia-Pacific
Group agreed to support Annan for a second term
in return for the African Group's support
for an Asian Secretary-General in the 2006 selection.[30] The Security Council
recommended Annan for a second term on 27 June 2001, and the General Assembly
approved his reappointment on 29 June 2001.[31]
Silk carpet portrait of
Kofi Annan at the UN headquarters
Soon after taking office in 1997, Annan
released two reports on management reform. On 17 March 1997, the report Management and
Organisational Measures (A/51/829) introduced new management
mechanisms through the establishment of a cabinet-style body to assist him and
be grouping the UN's activities in accordance with four core missions. A
comprehensive reform agenda was issued on 14 July 1997 entitled Renewing the United
Nations: A Programme for Reform (A/51/950). Key
proposals included the introduction of strategic management to strengthen unity
of purpose, the establishment of the position of Deputy Secretary-General, a
10-percent reduction in posts, a reduction in administrative costs, the
consolidation of the UN at the country level, and reaching out to civil society
and the private sector as partners. Annan also proposed to hold a Millennium
Summit in 2000.[32] After years of
research, Annan presented a progress report, In Larger Freedom, to the UN General
Assembly, on 21 March 2005. Annan recommended Security Council expansion and a
host of other UN
reforms.[33]
On 31 January 2006, Annan outlined his
vision for a comprehensive and extensive reform of the UN in a policy speech to
the United
Nations Association UK. The speech, delivered at Central
Hall, Westminster,
also marked the 60th Anniversary of the first meetings of the General Assembly
and Security Council.[34]
On 7 March 2006, he presented to the General
Assembly his proposals for a fundamental overhaul of the United Nations
Secretariat. The reform report is entitled Investing in the United
Nations, For a Stronger Organization Worldwide.[35]
On 30 March 2006, he presented to the
General Assembly his analysis and recommendations for updating the entire work
programme of the United Nations Secretariat. The reform report is entitled: Mandating and
Delivering: Analysis and Recommendations to Facilitate the Review of Mandates.[36]
Regarding the UN Human Rights Council, Annan said "declining
credibility" had "cast a shadow on the reputation of the United
Nations system. Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable
to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself." However, he did
believe that, despite its flaws, the council could do good.[37][38]
In March 2000, Annan appointed the Panel
on United Nations Peace Operations[39] to assess the
shortcomings of the then existing system and to make specific and realistic
recommendations for change.[40] The panel was composed
of individuals experienced in conflict prevention, peacekeeping and
peacebuilding. The report it produced, which became known as the Brahimi Report, after Chair of the
Panel Lakhdar
Brahimi, called for:[41]
1. renewed political
commitment on the part of Member States;
2. significant
institutional change;
3. increased financial
support.
The Panel further noted that in order to
be effective, UN peacekeeping operations must be properly resourced and
equipped, and operate under clear, credible and achievable mandates.[41] In a letter
transmitting the report to the General Assembly and Security Council, Annan
stated that the Panel's recommendations were "essential to make the United
Nations truly credible as a force for peace."[42] Later that same year,
the Security Council adopted several provisions relating to peacekeeping
following the report, in Resolution 1327.[43]
In 2000, Annan issued a report entitled
"We the peoples: the role of the United Nations in the 21st century".[44] The report called for
member states to "put people at the centre of everything we do.[45] No calling is more
noble, and no responsibility greater, than that of enabling men, women and
children, in cities and villages around the world, to make their lives
better."[46]:7
In the final chapter of the report, Annan
called to "free our fellow men and women from the abject and dehumanizing
poverty in which more than 1 billion of them are currently confined".[46]:77
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000,
national leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration, which was subsequently implemented by
the United
Nations Secretariat as the Millennium
Development Goals in 2001.[47]
Within the "We the Peoples"
document, Annan suggested the establishment of a United Nations Information
Technology Service (UNITeS), a consortium of high-tech volunteer corps, including NetCorps Canada and Net Corps
America, which United
Nations Volunteers would co-ordinate. In the Report of the high-level panel of
experts on information and communication technology (22 May 2000)
suggesting a UN ICT Task Force, the
panel welcomed the establishment of UNITeS, and made suggestions on its
configuration and implementation strategy, including that ICT4D volunteering opportunities make
mobilizing "national human resources" (local ICT experts) within
developing countries a priority, for both men and women. The initiative was
launched at the United
Nations Volunteers and was active from February 2001 to
February 2005. Initiative staff and volunteers participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in December 2003.[48]
In an address to The World Economic Forum
on 31 January 1999, Secretary-General Annan argued that the "goals of the
United Nations and those of business can, indeed, be mutually supportive"
and proposed that the private sector and the United Nations initiate "a
global compact of shared values and principles, which will give a human face to
the global market".[49]
On 26 July 2000, the United
Nations Global Compact was officially launched
at UN headquarters in New York. It is a principle-based framework for
businesses which aims to "Catalyse actions in support of broader UN goals,
such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)".[50] The Compact established
ten core principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and
anti-corruption, and under the Compact, companies commit to the ten principles
and are brought together with UN agencies, labour groups and civil society to
effectively implement them.
Towards the end of the 1990s, increased
awareness of the destructive potential of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS pushed
public health issues to the top of the global development agenda. In April
2001, Annan issued a five-point "Call to Action" to address the
HIV/AIDS pandemic. Stating it was a
"personal priority", Annan proposed the establishment of a Global
AIDS and Health Fund, "dedicated to the battle against HIV/AIDS
and other infectious diseases"[51] to stimulate the
increased international spending needed to help developing countries confront
the HIV/AIDS crisis. In June of that year, the General Assembly of the United
Nations committed to the creation of such a fund during a special session on
AIDS,[52] and the permanent
secretariat of the Global Fund was subsequently established in January 2002.[53]
Following the failure of Annan and the
International Community to intervene in the genocide in Rwanda and in
Srebrenica, Annan asked whether the international community had an obligation
in such situations to intervene to protect civilian populations. In a speech to
the General Assembly on 20 September 1999 "to address the prospects for
human security and intervention in the next century,"[54] Annan argued that
individual sovereignty—the protections afforded by the Declaration of Human
Rights and the Charter of the UN—was being strengthened, while the notion of
state sovereignty was being redefined by globalization and international
co-operation. As a result, the UN and its member states had to consider a
willingness to act to prevent conflict and civilian suffering,[55] a dilemma between
"two concepts of sovereignty" that Annan also presented in a
preceding article in The Economist, on 16 September 1999.[56]
In September 2001 the Canadian government
established an ad-hoc committee to address this balance between state
sovereignty and humanitarian intervention. The International Commission on
Intervention and State Sovereignty published its final
report in 2001, which focused on not on the right of states to intervene but a
responsibility to protect populations at risk. The report moved beyond the
question of military intervention, arguing that a range of diplomatic and
humanitarian actions could also be utilized to protect civilian populations.[57]
In 2005, Annan included the doctrine of
"Responsibility
to Protect" in his report Larger Freedom.[57] When that report was
endorsed by the UN General Assembly, it amounted to the first formal
endorsement by UN Member States of the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect.[58]
In the years after 1998 when UNSCOM was
expelled by the government of Saddam Hussein and during the Iraq
disarmament crisis, in which the United States blamed UNSCOM and former IAEA
director Hans Blix for failing to properly
disarm Iraq, former UNSCOM chief weapons inspector Scott Ritter blamed Annan for being
slow and ineffective in enforcing Security Council resolutions on Iraq and was
overtly submissive to the demands of the Clinton administration for regime
removal and inspection of sites, often Presidential palaces, that were not
mandated in any resolution and were of questionable intelligence value, severely
hampering UNSCOM's ability to co-operate with the Iraqi government and
contributed to their expulsion from the country.[59][60] Ritter also claimed
that Annan regularly interfered with the work of the inspectors and diluted the
chain of command by trying to micromanage all of the activities of UNSCOM,
which caused intelligence processing (and the resulting inspections) to be
backed up and caused confusion with the Iraqis as to who was in charge and as a
result, they generally refused to take orders from Ritter or Rolf Ekéus without explicit
approval from Annan, which could have taken days, if not weeks. He later
believed that Annan was oblivious to the fact the Iraqis took advantage of this
in order to delay inspections. He claimed that on one occasion, Annan refused
to implement a no-notice inspection of the SSO headquarters and instead tried to
negotiate access, but the negotiation ended up taking nearly six weeks, giving
the Iraqis more than enough time to clean out the site.[61]
During the build-up to the 2003
invasion of Iraq, Annan called on the United States and the United
Kingdom not to invade without the support of the United Nations. In a September
2004 interview on the BBC, when questioned about the legal authority for the
invasion, Annan said he believed it was not in conformity with the UN charter
and was illegal.[62][63]
In 1998, Annan was deeply involved in
supporting the transition from military to civilian rule in Nigeria. The following
year, he supported the efforts of East Timor to secure independence from
Indonesia. In 2000, he was responsible for certifying Israel 's withdrawal from
Lebanon, and in 2006, he led talks in New York between the presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria which led
to a settlement of the dispute between the two countries over the Bakassi peninsula.[64]
Annan and Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad disagreed sharply on Iran's nuclear
program, on an Iranian exhibition of cartoons mocking the Holocaust, and on the
then upcoming International Conference to Review
the Global Vision of the Holocaust, an Iranian Holocaust denial conference in 2006.[65] During a visit to Iran
instigated by continued Iranian uranium enrichment, Annan said "I think
the tragedy of the Holocaust is an undeniable historical fact and we should
really accept that fact and teach people what happened in World War II and
ensure it is never repeated."[65]
Annan supported sending a UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, Sudan.[66] He worked with the
government of Sudan to accept a transfer of power from the African Union peacekeeping
mission to a UN one.[67] Annan also worked with
several Arab and Muslim countries on women's rights and other topics.[68]
Beginning in 1998, Annan convened an
annual UN "Security Council Retreat" with the 15 States'
representatives of the Council. It was held at the Rockefeller
Brothers Fund (RBF) Conference Center at the Rockefeller
family estate in Pocantico
Hills, New York, and was sponsored by both the RBF and the UN.[69]
In June 2004, Annan was given a copy of
the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) report on the
complaint brought by four female workers against Ruud Lubbers, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, for sexual harassment, abuse
of authority, and retaliation. The report also reviewed a long-serving staff
member's allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against Werner
Blatter, Director of UNHCR Personnel. The investigation found Lubbers guilty of
sexual harassment; no mention was made publicly of the other charge against a
senior official, or two subsequent complaints filed later that year. In the course
of the official investigation, Lubbers wrote a letter which some considered was
a threat to the female worker who had brought the charges.[70] On 15 July 2004, Annan
cleared Lubbers of the accusations, saying they were not substantial enough
legally.[71] The internal UN-OIOS
report on Lubbers was leaked, and sections accompanied by an article by Kate Holt were published in a
British newspaper. In February 2005, Lubbers resigned as head of the UN refugee
agency, saying that he wanted to relieve political pressure on Annan.[72]
In December 2004, reports surfaced that
the Secretary-General's son Kojo Annan received payments from
the Swiss company Cotecna Inspection SA, which had won a lucrative contract
under the UN Oil-for-Food
Programme. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the
allegations.[73] On 11 November 2005, The Sunday Times agreed to apologise and
pay a substantial sum in damages to Kojo Annan, accepting that the allegations
were untrue.[74]
Annan appointed the Independent Inquiry
Committee,[75] which was led by former US Federal
Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker,[76] then the director of
the United
Nations Association of the US. In his first interview with the
Inquiry Committee, Annan denied having had a meeting with Cotecna. Later in the
inquiry, he recalled that he had met with Cotecna's chief executive
Elie-Georges Massey twice. In a final report issued on 27 October, the
committee found insufficient evidence to indict Kofi Annan on any illegal
actions, but did find fault with Benon Sevan, an
Armenian-Cypriot national who had worked for the UN for about 40 years.
Appointed by Annan to the Oil-For-Food role, Sevan repeatedly asked Iraqis for
allocations of oil to the African Middle East Petroleum Company. Sevan's
behavior was "ethically improper", Volcker said to reporters. Sevan
repeatedly denied the charges and argued that he was being made a
"scapegoat".[77] The Volcker report was
highly critical of the UN management structure and the Security Council
oversight. It strongly recommended a new position be established of Chief
Operating Officer (COO), to handle the fiscal and administrative
responsibilities then under the Secretary-General's office. The report listed
the companies, both Western and Middle Eastern, which had benefited illegally
from the program.[76]
In 2001, its centennial year, the Nobel Committee decided that the Peace
Prize was to be divided between the UN and Annan. They were awarded the Peace
Prize "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful
world,"[2] having revitalized the
UN and for having given priority to human rights. The Nobel Committee also
recognized his commitment to the struggle to containing the spread of HIV in
Africa and his declared opposition to international terrorism.[78]
Annan defended his deputy
Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown,[79] who openly criticized
the United States in a speech on 6 June 2006: "[T]he prevailing practice
of seeking to use the UN almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool while failing
to stand up for it against its domestic critics is simply not sustainable. You
will lose the UN one way or another. [...] [That] the US is constructively
engaged with the UN [...] is not well known or understood, in part because much
of the public discourse that reaches the US heartland has been largely
abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News."[80]Malloch later said his
talk was a "sincere and constructive critique of U.S. policy toward the
U.N. by a friend and admirer."[81]
The talk was unusual because it violated
unofficial policy of not having top officials publicly criticize member
nations.[81] The interim U.S.
ambassador John R. Bolton, appointed
by President George W. Bush, was
reported to have told Annan on the phone: "I've known you since 1989 and
I'm telling you this is the worst mistake by a senior UN official that I have
seen in that entire time."[81] Observers from other
nations supported Malloch's view that conservative politicians in the U.S.
prevented many citizens from understanding the benefits of U.S. involvement in
the UN.[82]
On 19 September 2006, Annan gave a
farewell address to world leaders gathered at the UN
headquarters in New York, in anticipation of his
retirement on 31 December. In the speech he outlined three major problems of
"an unjust world economy, world disorder, and widespread contempt for
human rights and the rule of law", which he believed "have not
resolved, but sharpened" during his time as Secretary-General. He also
pointed to violence in Africa, and the Arab–Israeli
conflict as two major issues warranting attention.[83]
On 11 December 2006, in his final speech
as Secretary-General, delivered at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence,
Missouri, Annan recalled Truman's leadership in the
founding of the United Nations. He called for the United States to return to
President Truman's multilateralist foreign policies, and
to follow Truman's credo that "the responsibility of the great states is
to serve and not dominate the peoples of the world". He also said that the
United States must maintain its commitment to human rights, "including in
the struggle against terrorism."[84][85]
After his service as UN
Secretary-General, Annan took up residence in Geneva and worked in a leading
capacity on various international humanitarian endeavors.[86]
In 2007, Annan established the Kofi
Annan Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit organization that
works to promote better global governance and strengthen the capacities of
people and countries to achieve a fairer, more peaceful world.[87]
The organisation was founded on the
principles that fair and peaceful societies rest on three pillars: Peace and
Security, Sustainable Development, and Human Rights and the Rule of Law, and
they have made it their mission to mobilise the leadership and the political
resolve needed to tackle threats to these three pillars ranging from violent
conflict to flawed elections and climate change, with the aim of achieving a
fairer, more peaceful world.[88]
The Foundation provides the analytical,
communication and co-ordination capacities needed to ensure that these
objectives are achieved. Annan's contribution to peace worldwide is delivered
through mediation, political mentoring, advocacy and advice. Through his
engagement, Annan aimed to strengthen local and international conflict
resolution capabilities. The Foundation provides the analytical and logistical
support to facilitate this in co-operation with relevant local, regional and
international actors.[89] The Foundation works
mainly through private diplomacy, where
Annan provided informal counsel and participated in discreet diplomatic initiatives
to avert or resolve crises by applying his experience and inspirational
leadership. He was often asked to intercede in crises, sometimes as an
impartial independent mediator, sometimes as a special envoy of the
international community. In recent years he had provided such counsel to
Burkina Faso, Kenya, Myanmar, Senegal, Iraq and Colombia.[90]
Following the outbreak
of violence during the 2007 Presidential elections in
Kenya, the African Union established a Panel of Eminent African Personalities
to assist in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis.[91]
The panel, headed by Annan, managed to
convince the two principal parties to the conflict, President Mwai Kibaki's Party of
National Unity (PNU) and Raila Odinga's Orange
Democratic Movement (ODM), to participate in the Kenya National Dialogue and
Reconciliation Process (KNDR).[91] Over the course of 41
days of negotiations, several agreements regarding taking actions to stop the
violence and remedying its consequences were signed. On 28 February, President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga signed a coalition
government agreement. [92][93]
On 23 February 2012, Annan was appointed
as the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, in an attempt to end the civil war taking place.[6] He developed a
six-point plan for peace:[94]
1. commit to work with the
Envoy in an inclusive Syrian-led political process to address the legitimate
aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people, and, to this end, commit to
appoint an empowered interlocutor when invited to do so by the Envoy;
2. commit to stop the
fighting and achieve urgently an effective United Nations supervised cessation
of armed violence in all its forms by all parties to protect civilians and
stabilise the country.
To this end, the Syrian government should
immediately cease troop movements towards, and end the use of heavy weapons in,
population centres, and begin pullback of military concentrations in and around
population centres.
As these actions are being taken on the
ground, the Syrian government should work with the Envoy to bring about a
sustained cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties with an
effective United Nations supervision mechanism.
Similar commitments would be sought by
the Envoy from the opposition and all relevant elements to stop the fighting
and work with him to bring about a sustained cessation of armed violence in all
its forms by all parties with an effective United Nations supervision
mechanism;
3. ensure timely provision
of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting, and to this
end, as immediate steps, to accept and implement a daily two-hour humanitarian
pause and to co-ordinate exact time and modalities of the daily pause through an
efficient mechanism, including at local level;
4. intensify the pace and
scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons, including especially
vulnerable categories of persons, and persons involved in peaceful political
activities, provide without delay through appropriate channels a list of all
places in which such persons are being detained, immediately begin organizing
access to such locations and through appropriate channels respond promptly to
all written requests for information, access or release regarding such persons;
5. ensure freedom of
movement throughout the country for journalists and a non-discriminatory visa
policy for them;
6. respect freedom of
association and the right to demonstrate peacefully as legally guaranteed.
On 2 August, he resigned as UN and Arab
League joint special envoy to Syria,[95] citing the
intransigence of both the Assad government and the rebels, as well as the
stalemate on the Security Council as preventing any peaceful resolution of the
situation.[96] Annan also stated that
the lack of international unity and ineffective diplomacy among the world
leaders had made the peaceful resolution in Syria an impossible task.[97]
Annan served as the Chair of the Global Commission on Elections,
Democracy and Security. The Commission was launched in May 2011 as a
joint initiative of the Kofi Annan Foundation and the International Institute for Democracy
and Electoral Assistance. It comprised 12 eminent individuals from
around the world, including Ernesto Zedillo, Martti Ahtisaari, Madeleine
Albright and Amartya Sen, and aimed to
highlight the importance of the integrity of elections to achieving a more
secure, prosperous and stable world. The Commission released its final report: Democracy, a Strategy to Improve the
Integrity of Elections Worldwide, in September 2012.
In September 2016, Annan was asked to
lead the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State (in Myanmar)[98][99][100][101] – an impoverished
region beset by ethnic conflict and extreme sectarian violence, particularly by
Myanmar's Buddhist majority against the Rohingya Muslim minority,
further targeted by government forces.[102][103][104][105] The commission, widely
known simply as the "Annan Commission", was opposed by many Myanmar
Buddhists as unwelcome interference in their relations with the Rohingya.[98]
When the Annan commission released its
final report,[100] the week of 24 August
2017, with recommendations unpopular with all sides, violence exploded in the Rohingya conflict – the largest and
bloodiest humanitarian disaster in the region in decades – driving most of the
Rohingya from Myanmar.[105][104][106] Annan attempted to
engage the United Nations to resolve the matter,[107] but failed.
Annan died a week before the first
anniversary of the report, shortly after an announcement by a replacement
commission that it would not "point fingers" at the guilty parties –
leading to widespread concern that the new commission was just a sham to
protect culpable Myanmar government officials and citizens from accountability.[101][108][106][109]
In 2018, before Annan's death, Myanmar's
civilian government, under the direction of State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, made a
gesture of acceptance of the Annan commission's recommendations by convening
another board – the Advisory Board for the Committee for Implementation of the
Recommendations on Rakhine State – ostensibly to
implement the Annan commission's proposed reforms, but never actually
implemented them. Some of the international representatives resigned – notably
the panel's Secretary, Thailand's former foreign
minister Surakiart
Sathirathai, and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson – decrying the
"implementation" committee as ineffective, or a
"whitewash."[99][110]
Corporate boards
In March 2011,[111] Annan became a member
of the Advisory Board for Investcorp Bank B. S. C.[112] Europe,[113] an international private equity firm and sovereign
wealth fund owned by the United Arab
Emirates. He held the position until 2018.
Annan became member of the Global
Advisory Board of Macro Advisory Partners LLP, Risk
and strategic consulting firm based in London and New York, for business,
finance and government decision-makers, with some operations related to
Investcorp.[114]
Non-profit organizations
In addition to the above, Annan also
became involved with several organizations with both global and African
focuses, including the following:
·
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National
University of Singapore (NUS), Li Ka Shing
Professor (2009–2018)[119]
·
Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement
in African Leadership, chairman of the prize committee (2007–2018)[121]
·
Global
Commission on Drug Policy, founding commissioner.[124] The commission had
declared in a 2011 report that the war on drugs was a failure.[125] Annan believed that,
since drug use represents a health risk, it should be regulated, comparing it to
the regulation of
tobacco which reduced smoking in many countries.[126]
Annan served as Chair of The
Elders, a group of independent global leaders who work together on
peace and human rights issues.[127][128] In November 2008, Annan
and fellow Elders Jimmy Carter and Graça Machel attempted to travel to Zimbabwe to make a first-hand
assessment of the humanitarian situation in the country. Refused entry, the
Elders instead carried out their assessment from Johannesburg, where they met
Zimbabwe- and South Africa-based leaders from politics, business, international
organisations, and civil society.[129] In May 2011, following
months of political violence in Côte d'Ivoire, Annan
travelled to the country with Elders Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson to encourage national
reconciliation.[130] On 16 October 2014,
Annan attended the One Young World Summit in Dublin.
During a session with fellow Elder Mary Robinson, Annan
encouraged 1,300 young leaders from 191 countries to lead on intergenerational
issues such as climate change and the need for action to take place now, not
tomorrow.[131][132]
"We don't have to wait to act. The
action must be now. You will come across people who think we should start
tomorrow. Even for those who believe action should begin tomorrow, remind them
tomorrow begins now, tomorrow begins today, so let's all move forward."[133]
Annan chaired the Africa
Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished
individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable
development in Africa. As Chair, he facilitates coalition building to leverage
and broker knowledge, in addition to convening decision-makers to influence
policy and create lasting change in Africa. Every year, the Panel releases a
report, the Africa Progress Report,
which outlines an issue of immediate importance to the continent and suggests a
set of associated policies. In 2014, the Africa Progress Report highlighted the
potential of African fisheries, agriculture, and forests to drive economic development.[134] The 2015 report
explores the role of climate change and the potential of renewable energy
investments in determining Africa's economic future.[135]
On 4 September 2012, Annan with Nader
Mousavizadeh wrote a memoir, Interventions: A Life in War and Peace.[136] Published by Penguin Press, the book
has been described as a "personal biography of global statecraft".[137]
In 1965, Kofi Annan married Titi Alakija,
a Nigerian woman from an aristocratic family. Several years later they had a
daughter, Ama, and later a son, Kojo. The couple separated
in the late 1970s,[138] and divorced in 1983.[10] In 1984, Annan married Nane Annan (sv; et; ru), a Swedish lawyer at
the UN and a maternal half-niece of diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.[139] She has a daughter,
Nina, from a previous marriage.[140]
Annan died on the morning of 18 August
2018 in Bern, Switzerland, at the age of 80 after a short illness.[141][142] António
Guterres, the current UN Secretary-General, said that "Kofi
Annan was a champion for peace and a guiding force for good."[143][141]
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