LONDON – Former United Nations secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan has died at the age of 80, the BBC reported on Saturday.
Annan, who served as the seventh UN chief for almost 10 years, died today. An official statement was shared on Mr Annan’s Twitter handle: “It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on Saturday 18th August after a short illness.”
It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on Saturday 18th August after a short illness… pic.twitter.com/42nGOxmcPZ
— Kofi Annan (@KofiAnnan) August 18, 2018
The diplomat, who was originally from Ghana, died in the Swiss city of Geneva, where he had been living for several years.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 2001 for helping to revitalise the international body.
His tenure as UN secretary-general coincided with the Iraq War and the HIV/Aids pandemic.
Kofi described his greatest achievement as the Millennium Development Goals which – for the first time – set global targets on issues such as poverty and child mortality.
