Former UN leader Kofi Annan has died
Kofi Annan, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and first black UN Secretary General, has died at the age of 80. Matthew Larotonda reports
Kofi Annan, the first black secretary general of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has died at the age of 80.
His foundation said he passed peacefully surrounded by family after a short illness in Switzerland.
Annan served as leader of the UN between 1997 and 2006 and presided over crises including the 2003 Iraq invasion, and conflict in Sudan’s Darfur.
Before that, he served as head of peacekeeping in Africa, during the time of the Rwandan genocide.
His time at the UN was turbulent. Critics blamed him for failing to prevent Rwanda.
And as secretary-general refused calls for his resignation over a humanitarian aid corruption scandal in Iraq that linked to his own son.
Annan was born in Ghana when it was still under British colonial rule, his father was governor and watched it transition as it, like many African states at the time, moved into sovereignty.
He continued diplomatic work in retirement, appointed as a UN special envoy for the Syrian conflict and brokering a power-sharing agreement in Kenya.
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