Kofi Annan, the 7th Secretary General of UN, died today at age of 80

Kofi Annan – A Career full of highs and lows

By Mudassir Ishfaq Last updated Dec 16, 2019

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Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General, has died at age of 80. He was the first black to serve at this position in UN. He served in his office from January, 1997 to December, 2006. Kofi Annan was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize of the year in 2001. The major contribution of Kofi Annan was to tackle the rise of global terrorism across the world after the famous incident of 9/11. In addition to that, he was the founder of Kofi Annan foundation. He was also the chairman of ‘The Elders’, an international humanitarian organization founded by Nelson Mandela.

Annan born in Kumasi, a metropolitan in Ghana. He belonged to the tribal leaders from both sides of his parents. He was a well-educated man with degrees in economics, international relations, and management. This allowed him to get into United Nation where he rose to the seat of General Secretary and served there for almost ten years. His entire career was filled with personal highs and lows, from winning Noble Peace Prize to failing to stop invasion of Iraq, let’s look into a bit detail the career of 7^th Secretary General of United Nations.

Administrative Services:

Kofi Annan being a graduate of MIT in management, introduced number of management reforms in United Nations. He proposed the reduction of administrative cost along with the reduction of staff. In addition to that, he tried to ensure the consolidation of UN at the country level. He recognized the importance of different international actors like private organizations and civil society and stated that they should be directly in connection with United Nations.

War against Terrorism:

Kofi Annan was the secretary General of the world’s largest international organization, when the world saw two planes crashing into the twin towers of World Trade Center in New York. There was a rise of terrorism across the whole world. It was probably one of the most important time in his entire career when the organization had to made the important decisions like invasion of Afghanistan and war against terror. It was for the same reason why he was awarded Noble Peace Prize in 2001. Whether the invasion of Afghanistan was just or unjust, it’s a topic for another day. However, the burden of decisions which Kofi had to made have been huge and we have got to admit the administrative abilities of late Ghanaian.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):

MDGs are one of the most important contributions of Annan’s career. After the Millennium Summit 2000, the world identified the eight major sectors in which improvement is absolutely necessary. The major target of these goals was a man, without any discrimination of his nationality, race, color or creed. It was the development of an individual both physically and intellectually. The major goals which were to be achieved by 2015 were as following:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education

Reduce child mortality

Improve maternal health
Promote gender equality and women empowerment
Ensure environment sustainability

Combat diesases like HIV, Aids, Malaria, etc
Develop a global partnership for development

The achievement of these goals was although not 100%. Their success varied from country to country. However, the improvements in these sectors were very drastic. World saw a drastic reduction of child mortality across the world. There were major improvements in the goal of achieving universal primary education. More than fifty percent of improvements were seen in the eradication of diseases like HIV and malaria. These are the successes whose credit should be given to the late Kofi, who proposed the Millennium Summit and led to the establishment of these goals.

Invasion of Iraq:

March, 2003 was the beginning of the invasion of Iraq that lasted for many years. George W. Bush along with allies told the world that Iraq has weapons of Mass Destruction. And that the world needs to get rid of them before they cause destruction. Despite of these claims from America and Britain, the other major allies remained against the invasion and kept on calling these claims fake. However, USA invaded Iraq that was the starting point of complete destruction of the country for many years to come. Kofi Annan accepts this as one of the major failures of his professional career that UN failed to stop US from doing that. He kept on calling this war as unjust. The time proved that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Many international relations experts suggest that the cause behind this war were more personal than political.

Polish special forces and U.S. Navy Seals pose for pictures under a portrait of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the port of Umm-Qasr in southern Iraq,2003

Syrian Crisis:

In 2012, Kofi Annan was appointed as the joint special envoy of UN-Arab league to Syria. He presented a six points plan for establishment of peace. However, he resigned from his duties after six points. The major reason of his resignation according to Kofi himself was the frustration that was built due to division of international community on the issue. He kept on saying that world should put aside their political interests. It is the strong political will and selfless leadership of world that could only lead Syria out of crisis. On one platform, he stated that he cries every day for Syrian people.

Conclusion:

Kofi Annan faced many highs and lows throughout his career. Whether it is the probable career ending scandal of Rwanda that led to the death of more than 800,000 people of Oil for food program of Iraq. He managed to escape through all of them. It is without any exaggeration to say that he was secretary general of UN when the world was going through major changes. He will be remembered for his contributions in MDGS and war against terrorism.