ANNAN, KOFI

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06814205
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2020
• Case Number: F-2018-02369
• Publication Date: August 17, 2001

Approved for Release: 2020/07/29 C06814205
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Kofi ANNAN
(Phonetic: ANen)
Secretary General, UN (since 1997)
Addressed as: Mr. Secretary General
I'm here to do a job and self is not involved
because we're dealing with much bigger issues,
much more is at stake. To put my own ego or my
own reputation at the center of it, I think, would
be unconscionable and would be a mistake.
Kofi Annan, December 1998
Overwhelmingly reelected to a second five-year
term by the General Assembly in June 2001, Kofi
Annan has helped boost the prestige and influence
of the UN since becoming its first black African
secretary general. His efforts, for example, to
stave off war with Iraq and to win extradition of
the Pan Am 103 bombing suspects�although
criticized in some quarters�led to renewed calls
for UN intervention in other difficult or
longstanding disputes. He has made the battle
against FIIV/AlDS and other infectious diseases
into a personal crusade aimed at establishing his
legacy as Secretary General. In addition, Annan
has stepped up efforts to promote relations
between the UN and Washington, such as visiting
US lawmakers in May 2001. US rejection of
arms control and environmental treaties and foot-
dragging on the repayment of arrears, however,
appear to have frustrated the Secretary General
and are making it more difficult for him to
support US management and reform initiatives or
to weigh in with the United States on
controversial issues. Other challenges will also
test Annan's confidence in the coming months:
GHANA
Practical Idealist
Born in Ghana and educated in the United
States and Europe, Annan is the first secretary
general to be elected from the ranks of the UN.
He is the product of the very globalization
process in which he wants the UN to play a
bigger regulatory role to the benefit of all
mankind. He is well known for his gentle
personality and nonconfrontational manner
but makes quick judgments and prefers to deal
with problems head-on. Annan considers the
United States the cornerstone of the UN and
recog- nizsihat he cann6t7Ifford to have bad
relations with Washington. Although he
worries about US unilateralism, to a large
extent, he shares US views about how the UN
shoulddeaLwithiJe challenges facing the
world.
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LP 01-107543
17 August 2001
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Career Highlights
1963 Began UN career, WHO, Geneva.
1965-71
1974-76
1976-80
1980-84
1984-86
1986-90
1990-92
1992-93
1993-96
Administrative officer, then chief
of personnel section, Economic
Commission for Africa, Addis
Ababa.
Left UN and managed government-
owned Ghana Tourist Development
Company.
Returned to UN as deputy chief of
staff services, Office of Personnel
Services.
Deputy director of administration
directorate, UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Refugees,
Geneva.
Director of the budget, UN Office
of Financial Services.
Assistant secretary general for
human resources management.
UN comptroller and director,
Office of Program, Planning,
Budget, and Finance.
Assistant secretary general, Office
of Peacekeeping Operations.
Director, Department for
Peacekeeping Operations.
More General Than Secretary
Annan stripped much of the fat from the UN
Secretariat during his first term by cutting
personnel and streamlining the organization. In
addition, he lit a fire under the UN's lethargic
bureaucracy by bringing in dynamic new
personalities from both the government and the
private sector to fill key leadership positions.
Annan' s articulAte advocacy of the UN's
humanitarian aind internationalist ideals in
pressing for new programs to educate the world's
poor and ease Third World debt are largely
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to Africa at the UN.
At the same time, Annan's controversial stance
on a variety of issues has made him a lightning
rod for criticism from developed and developing
countries alike but appear to have done little to
tarnish his image as a selfless public servant or to
dilute his internattbnal influence. In late 1999,
for example, he released two reports, well
received in much of the developing world, that
castigated the UN and the world's major powers
for failing to stop the Serb atrocities at Srebrenica
in 1995 and the genocide in Rwanda the previous
year. Many commentators, however, considered
Annan' s criticism of member states�particularly
Western ones, which provide the bulk of the
organization's funding�troublesome and outside
the scope of his authority.
On the other hand, Annan infuriatbd many
developing countries and drew criticism from
Russia and China in September 1999, when he
argued that the world has the right to intervene
when leaders abuse their people. Many
Nonaligned Movement and G-77 countries appear
to have viewed Annan' s call for humanitarian
intervention as an effort to appease the United
States in order to secure his reelection bid. They
criticized Annan for following Washington's lead
too often, particularly in view of US arrears.
Nonetheless, Annan overcame developing country
resistance to the US assessments reform effort
through an elev nth-hour intervention in
December 200
Personal Notes (U)
Annan was born a twin on 8 April 1938 near
Kumasi, Ghana. He has studied at the University
of Science and Technology in Ghana (1958-59),
Macalester College in Minnesota (1959-61), the
International Institute of Higher Studies in
Switzerland (1961-62), and the Sloan School of
Management at MIT (1971-72). Annan speaks
excellent English, French, and several African
languages, including Twi and Fante. His first
marriage to a Nigerian ended in divorce. In 1984,
Annan married Nane Lagergren, a.Swedish
national, who is the niece of Raoul Wallenberg.
The couple has three adult children from previous
marriages
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