“The right perspective asserts itself“–  E. D. Morel

Rising through the United Nations system like a star, Kofi Annan’s light shone brilliantly throughout his career and life until his death at the ripe age of 80. His accomplishments as an international civil servant and consummate diplomat are better known than his equally virtuous life as a family man, and a traditional African chief in his community in Ghana. This is due to his private nature and careful separation of domestic from public duties as typical of Africans of his generation. Yet, such considerations are perfectly in order, for Kofi Annan came to limelight precisely because of his international functions and not his local or domestic achievements.

Mr. Annan received his early education in his hometown Kumasi, from whence he proceeded to do his undergraduate studies at the Macalister College, Minnesota, the United States in 1962. He undertook graduate studies in Geneva, Switzerland, and went on to do a Masters degree at the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, in 1972. His birth and career made him a man of two worlds: African and Western. That dualism of cultures and outlooks did not sit incongruously with him. He bestrode both worlds with the certainty and confidence of a man on a mission. That mission was humanism born out of his first-hand experiences of life under colonial rule and the racial ignominy suffered by Black people that spurred on the Civil Rights movement and Black resistance in America. 

It is natural that a man of his temperament and sensitive disposition should gravitate towards the United Nations. In the 1960s, the Organisation had a veritable sense of mission and duty to humanity, unlike what it has become in later years. As Secretary-General, his first actions were not some grandiose schemes of global restructuring or idealistic undertaking of some unattainable missions. Rather, his first acts were those of corrective measures aimed at repositioning and revitalising the United Nations. He took measures internally to redirect the United Nations towards its main purposes, namely the maintenance of international peace and security, promotion and protection of human rights and dignity, and ensuring sustainable development.

Drawing from his unparalleled experiences in various departments of the Organisation where he worked, Mr. Annan came up with some far-reaching programmes for revitalising the United Nations to inject into it the dynamism and vitality that it had lost. Fostering peace and tolerance and respecting human rights were the fundamental tenets of the United Nations, while the rule of law was its greatest strength and moral ballast. Kofi Annan saw how these were undermined and disrespected by the member-states, particularly in dealing with issues affecting the developing countries. The prolonged struggle against the Apartheid regime in South Africa and how conflicts were made needlessly protracted in Africa because of Cold War politics, deeply affected his sense of justice and dignity as an African.

His determined stand against the double standards and amoral politics of the big powers in the United Nations was manifested in his actions in averting crises and conflicts everywhere. His beliefs underlined his actions towards aborting the invasion of Iraq by the Western Coalition led by the United States that turned out to be a fiasco and one of the greatest human tragedies of the past century. His untiring, almost desperate search for peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict and equitable justice for the Palestinians was a factor that emanated from his background as an African whose country was once under colonial domination.

Kofi Annan’s answer to the world’s and Africa’s tragedy in particular, was to launch a series of initiatives that were aimed at restructuring the global governance system, and ushering in a fresh impetus to redress the imbalances in terms of resource and wealth accumulation and distribution in the world. The Millennium Summit that he convened in 2000, was a landmark event that bore the seeds of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, and the far-reaching decisions on global consensus of uplifting of human conditions.

Kofi Annan deftly guided those universal initiatives ensuring that Africa and other developing regions of the world benefited from the emerging global partnerships and associations engendered by the goals and targets of the MDGs. The central part that was given to human rights and related values that were concretely reflected in issues like eradication of extreme poverty, access to education and heath-care, water and sanitation, food and nutrition and other beneficial programmes, reflected his deep commitment to the uplifting of human life and dignity. 

By those efforts he became the first Secretary-General to literally bring the United Nations closer to the people everywhere. The Global Compact that he launched in 2000 defined his tenure as a bridge builder between the United Nations and the corporate world. The Compact encompassed the entire world and involved thousands of corporate entities that committed themselves to the betterment of mankind. The crafting of the United Nations document “In Larger Freedom, Towards a Better Security, Human Rights and Development” under his tutelage more than any other action, showed his passion for humanism and quest for dignity for all people. Under his initiative also, the seminal report, “A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility”, was produced by the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change in 2004″. The fact that he was a co-recipient of the Noble Prize for Peace in 2001 alongside the United Nations, made his destiny intertwined with that Organisation, while his vision became solidified and immortalised in the aspirations of the rest of human for peace, dignity and security. 

Dying peacefully amidst family and loved ones at such a ripe age is a blessing given to few. Despite his tremendous personality and great fame, his life was not accompanied by undeserving notoriety that sometimes went with holding high positions in this world of instant reporting and globalised media. He was protected by his impeccable credentials and near perfect integrity. Unlike others in his situation domestically and professionally, he lived an untainted life despite attempts to spoil his impeccable credentials. Such then was the world in which the late Kofi Annan lived and operated for near all his life and left in dignity and respect. 

His footprints and legacies will remain indelibly marked in all parts of the world and different situations. Wherever one looks, his looming presence still pervades the horizon in Somalia, South Sudan, Timor L’Este, Kosovo, Kenya, Nigeria and Cameroon and many other places. Even where he was deemed to have failed in preventing the Rwandan debacle, it was not so much as a blemish on his integrity, but more a result of big power inertia, that could not turn the wheels of diplomacy in time to avert the disaster. He exerted strenuous efforts to avert the two Gulf Wars but also failed due to great power intrigues and incapacitation of the United Nations by the powers that be. The great historian Edward Gibbon wrote on the legendary Byzantine General, Belisarius, thus: “His imperfections flowed from the contagion of the times; his virtues were his own”. He could have anticipated Kofi Annan several centuries after Belisarius