Kofi Annan Biography and Works.

Kofi Atta Annan was born on 8th April, 1938. He is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from January 1997 to December 2006.

Since 1960, Ghana has been a republic within the British Commonwealth, a group of nations dependent on Great Britain.

Following his graduate studies in Geneva, Annan joined the World Health Organization (WHO) Later, The UN posts took him to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and New York City.

Annan always assumed that he would return to his native land after college, although he was disturbed by the unrest and numerous changes of government that occurred there during the 1970s.

He moved to Cairo, Egypt, as the chief civilian personnel officer in the UN Emergency Force in 1974. Annan returned to international diplomacy and the UN in 1976. Remaining associated with the UN for many years, he filled the post of assistant secretary-general in the Office of Human Resources Management and served as security coordinator for the UN in the 1980s.

Annan was appointed secretary-general, the top post of the UN, by the UN General Assembly in December 1996.

Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Global AIDS and Health Fund to support developing countries in their struggle to care for their people.

Trivia

He is the first African to head the UN and was awarded the ‘Nobel Prize. Noted for his cautious style of diplomacy, Annan is sometimes criticised for his soft-spokenness.