When Kofi Annan was elected U.N. Secretary General in 1996, he announced that as the U.N. chief official, his role was not only bureaucratic, but also “a political and diplomatic role, and above all a moral voice, which should be heard periodically when necessary” (Williams 20). This pursuit of moral conduct and commitment to ethical values in U.N. policies have characterized Kofi Annan’s both terms as a secretary-general of the United Nations: from 1997 to 2006. In this regard, enforcement of world peace has been the foundation of Kofi Annan’s leadership vision. It has led him to peace-building efforts that brought him the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2001.

Kofi Atta Annan was born to Henry Reginald and Victoria Annan in Kumasi, Gold Coast (now Ghana) on April 8, 1938. His father was a hereditary paramount chief of one of Ghanaian tribes Fante and served as a governor of Asante province. Raised in one of Ghana’s aristocratic families, Annan graduated from Mfantsipim boarding school for the elite. It was in 1957, the year when Ghana, after its victorious struggle against the British rule, became the first of Great Britain’s colonies to gain independence. After graduating from the Methodist Mfantsipim school, Annan entered the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi prior to enrolling at Macalester College in the United States. It was at Macalester College that Annan earned his bachelor’s degree in economics. Annan went on to study for his master’s degree at at the Institut universitaire des hautes études internationales in Geneva, Switzerland between 1961 and 1962.
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971-1972.

Kofi Annan’s career with the United Nations started from the position of a budget officer for the World Health Organization in Geneva in 1962. Except for a brief stint as Ghana’s director of tourism, Annan spent his whole career with the United Nations while as served in a range of administrative posts. He was elevated to the position of undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations on March 1, 1993. While in that position, the civil servant distinguished himself in the course of the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in particular he was accountable for transition of peacekeeping operations from the forces of the United Nations to the forces of NATO.

Kofi Annan’s achievements during his two term were the improvement of the U.N. financial footing, establishing a moral role of the United Nations, success in building consensus in various international challenging issues, enhancement of the U.N.’s role in provision and supervision of human rights across the globe, progress in dealing with AIDS/HIV pandemic progression, enhancing the U.N. commitment to African countries, and improvement of the strained relations with the United States. With regard to improvements of the United Nations’ budget, Kofi Annan carried out reforms that both reduced the budget and streamlined the organization’s operations. Additionally, Annan laid the foundation for the U.N. overhauling with reference to the Security Council, as he worked to get the U.N. member states to agree to considerable changes in the organization’s structure with the aim to increase the Security Council effectiveness. Although Kofi Annan did not manage to preclude the U.S. war against Iraq (the U.S. launched a war without getting approval from the U.N. Security Council), he developed a set of recommendations within a major reform package that he presented to the U.N. General assembly in 2005. Although the proposal by Kofi Annan to expand the Security Council from 15 to 24 members was not accepted, a number of Annan’s recommendations were later adopted.

After his resignation in 2006, Annan participated in a range of peacekeeping and diplomatic projects. Specifically, in 2008, Annan negotiated an important power-sharing agreement between the opposing parties, namely the Government and the opposition, after a disputed election in Kenya. In 2007, Annan founded a not-for-profit organization Kofi Annan Foundation, whose mission is to promote peace, human rights, sustainable development, and the rule of law. Besides, Kofi Annan co-authored a list of works. One of them is his memoir (written together with Nader Mousavizadeh) Interventions: Life in War and Peace.

Although Kofi Annan’s activity as the Secretary General of the United Nations was fruitful, as a civil servant he had failed to perform some tasks/ resolve some challenges successfully. According to the article in Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, although generally Annan was an effective consensus builder, both candid and accessible, as well as able to combine idealism with realism, he did not achieve success in trying to resolve the division of Cyprus. Also, he failed to carry out adequate oversight of his son’s wrongdoing as it was revealed that his son was the center of corruption in the oil-for-food program. The controversial program allowed Iraq, under the supervision of the United Nations, to sell a particular amount of oil with the aim of buying food, medicine, as well as other bare necessities. It turned out that Kofi Annan’s son was part of one Swiss business that had been a winner of the contract within the oil-for-food program. In a subsequent scandal, the U.N. Secretary General was cleared of wrongdoing, yet his fault has been emphasized in his failure to oversee the program in a proper way. Also, his attempt to find a peaceful solution that would satisfy the opposing parties in the Syrian conflict was unsuccessful when in 2012 Annan visited Syria as a part of joint Arab League-U.N. convoy.

In summary, Kofi Annan’s achievements in the position of the U.N. Secretary General spurred the growth of the U.N. role in peace building around the globe. The United Nations grew to be a less bureaucratic and more effective organization as it increased its role in resolving various international issues. However, Kofi Annan restricted role was the reason of his failed attempts to reform the Security Council, prevent the war in Iraq, or settle the Cyprus crisis. Anyway, he remains one of the most fruitful leaders of the U.N.