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Kofi Annan, who has died at the age of EIGHTY, spent nine years in charge of the sector’s greatest world diplomatic frame, the UN, in a tenure that coated the 9/ELEVEN attacks and the us-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. His later occupation noticed him mediate in some of the largest crises of the 21st Century, including the Syrian civil conflict. The BBC’s UN reporter in Geneva, Imogen Foulkes, shares her memories of the top diplomat.
i have a e-book on my shelf entitled ‘We the Peoples, a UN for the 21st Century’. it’s a suite of Kofi Annan’s speeches throughout his time as UN secretary-common, their subject material starting from climate modification, to peacekeeping, to HIV/AIDS, to genocide.
A record, if ever one used to be needed, of why the sector wishes a multilateral body to solve massive problems, and an inventory which explains why even the UN’s most harsh critics are inclined to admit that, if “the UN did not exist, we’d must invent it”.
I’m particularly keen on this book as a result of Kofi Annan gave it to me himself, when we had taken phase in a panel discussion four years ago on the UN in Geneva, in accordance with his time as secretary-normal.
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There are a really perfect many panel discussions at the UN, and frequently the turnout is understated, but no longer that day. The room, which has space for masses, was full, and still more people queued out of doors.
Symbol copyright AFP Symbol caption Kofi Annan served as head of UN peacekeeping during the Rwandan genocide and war in Bosnia. Here he’s pictured arriving in Bosnia in 1993
However Kofi Annan took care to enhance the aid companies in Geneva, and to draw attention to the every now and then unrewarded work they do. While right here, he also made time, each time he could, for the media.
He used to be unfailingly friendly and courteous, and he didn’t ward off questions, famously bluntly telling the UN press corps that he viewed the us/UK-led invasion of Iraq as illegal.
He was once also simply a pleasant man: i will be able to remember his amused sympathetic smile when he saw me painfully kneeling at the entrance of the clicking pack, microphone outstretched.
All of the Geneva reporters will keep in mind that he didn’t overlook a face, stopping to mention hello despite the fact that he did not have time to talk.
‘Champion for peace’
The post of UN secretary-common is arguably the sector’s toughest diplomatic role: Kofi Annan did the task in the course of the conflict in Kosovo, while 9/11 happened, in the course of the invasion of Iraq, and during a time when local weather amendment got here to be known as a massive threat to the planet.
Symbol copyright AFP Symbol caption Kofi Annan confronted a few impossible duties all through his time as the UN’s special envoy in Syria. In July 2012, he got here face-to-face with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
The Way In Which he quietly but firmly reminded international leaders, alternatively tough, that they needed to put their accountability to their electorate above their political careers.
The tributes to him today from Geneva had been many: the UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein defined him as “humanity’s perfect instance, the epitome, of human decency and beauty”.
Peter Maurer, the top of the World Committee of the Red Move, expressed his sadness on the lack of a “actual humanitarian leader and an ardent champion for peace”.
Kofi Annan will be mourned around the arena, however in Geneva there is not just disappointment at the lack of a man dedicated to peace and human rights, but grief at the loss of a friend.
