Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annanis a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world." He is the founder and the Chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, as well as being the chairman of The Elders, a group founded by Nelson Mandela...
NationalityGhanaian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth8 April 1938
CityKumasi, Ghana
CountryGhana
A citizen of the world in the fullest sense - one whose vision and culture gave him a deep empathy with fellow human beings of every creed and color.
We must ensure that the global market is embedded in broadly shared values and practices that reflect global social needs, and that all the world's people share the benefits of globalization.
I don't see a situation where one side will win militarily, take over Syria, and there will be peace and quiet, a clean victory.
When things are really desperate and hopeless and you can't do anything about this, and there's a sense that something must be done, that is something usually leads to the U.N.
The U.N. power comes from concerted action of the governments.
These divisions in the international community - the Syrians bear quite a lot of the blame, but we have enabled it by the divisions between us.
We at the U.N. have to take some of the blame, because we have not lowered expectations creating the impression we are here to save people, even when we have very limited resources.
I think that peacekeeping can do quite a lot, if they are given the right mandate with the commensurate resources to get the job done.
We knew the Syrian situation was complex and there were lots of divisions, particularly on the side of the opposition.This is a tough job.It can perhaps be done if you stand united and work with me in putting sustained pressure on the protagonists or the parties to come together and seek a political settlement.
In all these cases, part of the reasons for failure perhaps was not analyzing and assessing the true nature of the crisis, the resources that would be required, and exaggerated expectation of what the U.N. troops can do.
will be to consolidate and facilitate the cease-fire.
will consume far more of our energy in the years ahead.
While no one today could have had the power to prevent the earthquake from happening, we do have the power to stop the next wave: the deaths and despair caused by freezing temperatures and disease, by lack of shelter, food and water,
When states decide to use force, not in self-defense but to deal with broader threats to international peace and security, there is no substitute for the unique legitimacy provided by the Security Council,