Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, has died at the age of 80 after a short illness, his family and foundation announced on Saturday.
The Ghanaian was the seventh secretary general of the UN between 1997 and 2006 and won the Nobel peace prize for his humanitarian work.
Born in Kumasi, Ghana, on 8 April 1938, he was the first secretary general to emerge from the ranks of United Nations staff.
He died in hospital in Bern, Switzerland with his wife, Nane, and three children Ama, Kojo and Nina, by his side.
Kenya will remember him for brokering a peace deal between retired President Mwai Kibaki and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga that ended the post-election turmoil in 2008.
This was after he led the Panel of Eminent African Personalities convened by the African Union in the negotiations that ended the deadly post poll chaos. Annan described the mediation role as the most engaging but noted that it ended a stalemate that left at least 1,000 people dead. “My role in mediating was amongst the most intensive and enduring of all my interventions,” he said.
Annan’s foundation issued a statement on his Twitter account on Saturday morning that described him as a “global statesman and deeply committed internationalist who fought throughout his life for a fairer and more peaceful world”.
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 statement added that Annan, who succeeded Boutros Boutros-Ghali as UN leader, was a “son of Ghana and felt a special responsibility towards Africa”.
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 Annan 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.