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
It's incumbent on the leaders to really do whatever they can to reign in their forces and ensure that innocent civilians are not the ones to pay the price,
It's been difficult, ... He's had to make compromises to move the process ahead. It was never going to be easy ... but now that the new government is installed, we all need to look forward.
It is the plight of the Iraqi people which is now my most immediate concern.
It seems at times like a nightmare from which we are still hoping to awake, except that for millions of people in 12 affected countries, spanning two continents, and for tens of thousands of visitors from nations around the world, this nightmare is devastatingly real,
any attempt to harm him or other leaders is counterproductive.
So far, donors have made firm commitments for only 12 percent, 37 million dollars, of the UN requirements under the flash appeal of 312 million,
so credible that no one would want to challenge it.
At the same time, we have seen Iraqi prisoners disgracefully abused.
At this stage the European Union is not involved,
exercised through patient diplomatic persuasion and coalition-building. We all need to understand that the United Nations is not a separate or alien entity, seeking to impose its agenda on others. The United Nations is us; it is you and me.
The lack of major gains here... would be a severe disappointment for poor people around the world yearning to lift themselves out of poverty.
The international community has not forgotten you, you do have friends.
The issue is not the acceptance, but the performance on the ground, ... So let the inspectors go in, and I urge the Iraqis to cooperate with them and to perform, and I think that is the real test we are waiting for.
The issue is not the acceptance, but the performance on the ground,