Kofi Annan to be buried in Ghana- Family announces

The family of Kofi Annan has in a statement said the former Secretary-General of the United Nations will be buried in Ghana.

A portion of the statement read:

“The Government of Ghana will shortly announce the arrangements for a State ceremony, which will take place in Accra,”

The statement further noted the United Nations will hold memorial “events in New York and Geneva” for its former Secretary-General prior to the ceremony in Ghana,

“The family has kindly asked that no flowers be sent. For those still wishing to have their thoughts and support reflected in a gift, they suggest a contribution to the Kofi Annan Foundation:www.kofiannanfoundation.org/donate,” it added.

The former United Nation’s Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, passed on Saturday, August 2018, after a short illness at a Hospital in the Swiss city of Bern.

BIOGRAPHY OF KOFI ANNAN

Kofi Atta Annan, a diplomat from the West African country of Ghana, was the first to emerge from the ranks of United Nations (UN) staff to serve as the Secretary-General of the UN. He served as the seventh UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006.

The UN and Annan were jointly awarded the The Nobel Peace Prize 2001 “for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world”.

While he was the Secretary-General, he prioritized the establishment of a comprehensive reforms programme aimed at revitalizing the UN. UN had traditionally been working in the areas of development and he worked for further strengthening this work.

A passionate advocate of human rights, and a strong believer in the universal values of equality, tolerance and human dignity, Annan wanted to bring the UN closer to the people by reaching out to new partners, and thereby restore public confidence in the organization.

He had a major part to play in the establishment of two new intergovernmental bodies: the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council in 2005. He also played a pivotal role in the creation of the Global Funds to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

He strongly opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Iran’s nuclear programme. After his retirement from the UN in 2006, he returned to Ghana where he was involved with a number of African as well as global organizations.

Kofi Atta Annan and his twin sister, Efua Atta, were born to Victoria and Henry Reginald Annan in Kumasi, Ghana. Henry Reginald used to work as an export manager for the Lever Brothers cocoa company.
Both of his grandfathers and his uncle were tribal chiefs and he was raised in one of Ghana’s aristocratic families.

He attended the elite Mfantsipim School, a Methodist boarding school from 1954 to 1957. It was here that he learnt “that suffering anywhere concerns people everywhere.”

Ghana became the first British African colony to gain independence in 1957, the same year when Annan graduated from the Mfantsipim School. As a member of the generation that witnessed their country’s independence struggle and subsequent victory, he grew up thinking that everything was possible.

He joined the Kumasi College of Science and Technology in 1958 for a degree in economics. Receiving a Ford foundation grant enabled him to complete his undergraduate studies in economics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1961.

He then undertook graduate studies in economics at the Institut universitaire des hautes �tudes internationales in Geneva, Switzerland from 1961 to 1962.