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Kofi Annan: key dates
PARIS, Aug 18, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Key dates in the life of former UN chief
and Nobel peace laureate Kofi Annan, the first black man to head the world
body.
– April 8, 1938: Born in the Ghanaian city of Kumasi to an aristocratic
family from the Fante tribe.
– 1962: After studying economics in Geneva he joined the World Health
Organization and went to work in a number of other UN bodies including the UN
refugee agency.
– 1972: Annan obtained a master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). – 1993-96: He served deputy head of UN peacekeeping, during
the Rwandan genocide and the war in Bosnia.
– January 1, 1997: He became UN secretary general, the first from within
the organisation and the first from sub-Saharan Africa. He was re-elected for
a second five-year term in June 2001.
– October 12, 2001: Annan and the United Nations were jointly awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize.
– 2005: He became embroiled in a corruption scandal over the UN oil-for-
food programme in Iraq. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
– 2007: He became a founding member of The Elders, a group of statesmen who
speak out on global issues. He also set up the Kofi Annan Foundation which
says it aims to promote better global governance and work for peace.
– February 2012: Annan is chosen by the United Nations and the Arab League
to mediate in the Syrian war, but he throws in the towel five moths later.
– August 18, 2018: Annan dies in Switzerland after a short illness.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1940 hrs