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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Kofi Annan

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Kofi Annan

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Having served two terms in one of the world’s most powerful offices as seventh secretary general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan is an open book, right? Wrong. The Ghanaian diplomat has a fascinating and storied history that’s definitely worth a deeper look. Here’s 10 things you didn’t know about Kofi Annan.

Sources: Wikipedia.org, Amazon.com, TheGuardian.com, NobelPrize.org, Reuters

Telegraph.co.uk
Telegraph.co.uk

‘Kofi’ means Friday

In Akan — the Kwa language spoken by the Akan people living in Southern Ghana and adjacent parts of Côte d’Ivoire — many children are named for the day of the week on which they are born. “Kofi” is the name that corresponds with Friday in Akan. The day he was born — April 8, 1938 — was a Friday.

ProperaShell.com
ProperaShell.com

He is a member of both the Ashanti and Fante castes

Both the Ashanti and Fante castes are considered to be Akan people, mostly living in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. This is particularly interesting given that both are matrilineal societies, meaning that a child’s membership comes through the mother.

ThePessOptimist.com
ThePessOptimist.com

He had a twin sister who died in 1991

Efua Ataa, Kofi’s twin sister, died in 1991. The siblings shared the middle name “Atta,” meaning “twin” in Akan.

NABC.nl
NABC.nl

Before going to work at the UN, he studied at four universities

Annan completed his undergraduate work first at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi and finished up at Macalester College in the U.S., earning a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1961. After that, he continued his graduate studies in economics at the Institut universitaire des hautes études internationales in Geneva, and finished by earning a master of science degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972.

Telegraph.co.uk
Telegraph.co.uk

He originally intended to work as a civil servant in Ghana

In November 1974, after his studies, Kofi returned to Ghana to try to serve his country. He decided to leave less than two years later, due to “a debilitating combination of stultifying corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency.” He moved to the UN, where he would serve for the bulk of his career.

TheElders.com
TheElders.com

He was denied entry into Zimbabwe in 2008

While on a mission with The Elders — a group of global leaders working on human rights and peace issues — Annan tried to travel to Zimbabwe in 2008 with fellow Elders Jimmy Carter and Graça Machel to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground. They were not granted entry, and were forced to conduct their assessment from Johannesburg in South Africa.

NairaLand.com
NairaLand.com

He’s been married twice

Annan’s first marriage was to Nigerian Titi Alakija in 1965, with whom he had two children, — Ama and Kojo (who would later be embroiled in a scandal in relation to the U.N. Oil-For-Food program). The couple separated in the late 1970s, and he remarried Swedish lawyer Nane Lagergren in 1984.

Amazon.com
Amazon.com

Nane has written a children’s book about the U.N.

In an attempt to explain the important work of the United Nations to children, Nane wrote a children’s book titled, “The United Nations, Come along with me!” While some consider it to be propaganda, it clearly lays out the job of the U.N. and it’s they are involved in global issues.

RobinHoodTax.org
RobinHoodTax.org

Annan was extremely critical of his own work at the U.N.

In one of his final speeches of his term as secretary general, Annan discussed “an unjust world economy, world disorder, and widespread contempt for human rights and the rule of law,” and stated that he believes these issues “have not resolved, but sharpened” during his leadership. He has reiterated these sentiments publicly many times since then, but has continued to try to work to combat these global problems.

TheTimes.co.uk
TheTimes.co.uk

Despite ongoing debate, his last name is actually pronounced to rhyme with ‘cannon’

He said so himself. Believe it.