Kofi Annan

Biography

Kofi Annan was born on April 8, 1938, in Kumasi, Gold Coast (now Ghana). He joined the United Nations in 1962 and rose to become Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations — the exact position from which the UN's response to the Rwandan genocide was managed. It was Annan's department that received General Dallaire's 'Genocide Fax' in January 1994, and it was under his leadership that UNAMIR was ordered not to raid the weapons caches and to share intelligence with the Rwandan government. When the genocide began, Annan's department managed the UN Security Council deliberations that resulted in withdrawal rather than reinforcement. Annan later acknowledged profound regret for the UN's failure in Rwanda. In 1997 he became UN Secretary-General and in 1998 visited Kigali, where he publicly apologized and acknowledged the UN 'could have done more.' The Rwanda experience directly shaped his support for the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), adopted by the UN World Summit in 2005. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 and served as Secretary-General until 2006. Historians continue to debate the degree to which Annan personally bears responsibility versus being constrained by the political calculations of the Security Council's permanent members, particularly the United States. He died on August 18, 2018.

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