August 19th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – Former U.N. Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan died on Saturday at the age of 80, his foundation said, after decades of championing efforts to try to end protracted conflicts in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Annan, who died in the early hours of Saturday hospital in Bern, Switzerland, was the first black African to be the world’s top diplomat.
Annan served two terms as U.N. Secretary-General in New York from 1997-2006 and retired to live in a Swiss village in the Geneva countryside. His 10-year-old foundation promotes good governance and the transformation of African agriculture.
The incumbent U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised Kofi Anan fort leading the world body into a dignity and determination. Guterres was chosen in 2005 by Annan to head the United Nations Refugee Agency, the UNHCR.
“In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations. He rose through the ranks to lead the organization into the new millennium with matchless dignity and determination,” Guterres said of him.
