- UN To Hold Separate Ceremony, Fly Flags at Half Mast Around the World
Kofi Annan Foundation said yesterday that the funeral of the world’s unifying diplomat, Annan, would be a private event, but did not provide further details, ATS news agency reported.
It said a separate United Nations ceremony would be held at a later date. The UN said it would fly flags at half mast at all of its locations around the world through tomorrow. The former UN Secretary General, Nobel peace laureate and “diplomatic rock star” died at the weekend at the age of 80. From Africa to the United States, tributes continued to pour in from around the world yesterday.
Annan’s family said he had passed away peacefully at the weekend after a short illness. Annan, who lived not far from the UN European headquarters in Geneva, died in a Bern hospital, Swiss media reported.
The Ghanaian national was a career diplomat who projected quiet charisma and was widely credited for raising the world body’s pro- file in global politics during his two terms as head of the UN from 1997 to 2006.
The first secretary general from sub-Saharan Africa, Annan led the United Nations through the divisive years of the Iraq war and was later accused of corruption in the oil-for-food scandal, one of the most trying times of his tenure.
Annan “astutely guided the United Nations organisation into the 21st century defining an ambitious agenda that had made the UN truly indispensable to peace, prosperity and human dignity around the world,” Annan’s successor as UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said in a statement.
Current UN chief Antonio Guterres described his predecessor as “a guiding force for good”.
“In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations,” he said. “He rose through the ranks to lead the organisation into the new millennium with matchless dignity and determination.”
Already in Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo has announced a week of mourning for “one of our greatest compatriots”. Despite his criticism, current and former world leaders voiced their admiration for Annan. Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed his “wisdom and courage”, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel celebrated the “exceptional statesman in the service of the global community.”
President Donald Trump had yet to comment, but his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo yesterday hailed a life spent “advocating for peace and human dignity”. Another Nobel laureate, retired South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, described Annan as “an outstanding human being who represented our continent and the world with enormous graciousness, integrity and distinction.”
And US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said Annan “never stopped fighting for the dignity of every person”. Former US president Barack Obama earlier said Annan “embodied the mission of the United Nations like few others”.
