| Mr. Kofi Annan was born in Kumasi, Ghana on April 8, 1938. He studied at the University of Science and Technology at Kumasi, Ghana, and completed his undergraduate work in economics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. As a Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he received a Master of Science degree in Management. |
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| Mr. Annan's first assignment with the United Nations was in 1962 when, at the age of 24, he became an Administrative Officer and Budget Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. Since then, he has had a remarkably challenging and varied United Nations career, ranging from management tasks to refugee and peace-keeping issues. His United |
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| Nations postings include Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations, Director of Budget in the Office of Financial Services, Deputy Director of Administration and Head of Personnel at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR). As a lifetime 'UN man', Mr. Annan now brings to the Organization a wealth of experience and expertise gained through more than three decades of service. |
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| While serving as Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations and Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the former Yugoslavia, Mr. Annan demonstrated extraordinary diplomatic capabilities and made a major contribution to the peaceful resolution of conflicts and maintenance of international security. In February of 1998, Secretary-General Annan made a visit to Iraq and reached an agreement with the Iraqi leadership to end the standoff over U.N. arms inspections. His strong will to preserve peace brought about an agreement which averted the possibility of another war in the Gulf. |
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| As a man totally committed to peace, Mr. Annan has endeavored to strengthen the capacity of the United Nations to undertake both traditional peace-keeping missions and new initiatives in the promotion of international peace and harmony. He is married to Nane Annan, a lawyer and artist. They have three children. |
