Online NewsHour: Kofi Annan -- October 18, 1999



	KOFI ANNAN

October 18, 1999
		Kofi Annan, 61, the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations, took office Jan. 1, 1997. He is the first secretary-general to rise from within the ranks of the U.N. staff and the first black African elected to the post.

Online Special:
Kofi Annan

NewsHour interviews with Kofi Annan

March 4, 1998:
Annan talks about the deal he negotiated with President Saddam Hussein

July 16, 1997:
Annan talks about his plan to streamline the United Nations

Dec. 16, 1996:
Annan talks about taking the helm at the United Nations

Aug. 1, 1996:
Annan, then-U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, talks about intervention in Burundi

U.N. officials on the NewsHour

Oct. 7, 1999:
Mary Robinson, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, talks about alleged human rights abuses in East Timor

July 22, 1999:
Sadako Ogata, U.N. High commissioner for refugees, talks about the Balkans

The United States and U.N. dues

March 11, 1998:
Congressmen debate payment of U.N. Dues

Complete NewsHour coverage of the United Nations and international issues .

The United Nations

Mr. Annan was born in Kumasi, Ghana, on 8 April 1938. He studied at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, and completed his undergraduate degree in economics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.

After pursuing graduate studies in economics in Geneva, Annan earned a master's degree in management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Fluent in English, French and several African languages, Annan married lawyer and artist Nane Annan, a native of Sweden. They have three children.

Rising within the ranks

Annan began his U.N. career in 1962 as an administrative and budget officer at the World Health Organization in Geneva. He subsequently held several finance and management positions in various U.N. agencies, including the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, the U.N. Emergency Force and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In 1990, following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Annan facilitated the repatriation of more than 900 international staff and the release of Western hostages in Iraq. He subsequently led the first U.N. team negotiating with Iraq on the sale of oil to purchase humanitarian aid.

In 1993, Annan was named U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, where he oversaw 80,000 troops in 17 military operations.

In August 1995 he agreed to the launching of massive NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs, a policy then-secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali opposed.

From November 1995 to March 1996, following the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Annan oversaw the transition there from the U.N. Protection Force to the multinational Implementation Force led by NATO.

In November 1996, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's bid for reappointment was vetoed by the United States. Clinton officials said that the secretary-general was not as focused on reform as they deemed necessary. They said it would be hard to persuade a Republican-led Congress to pay off America's $1.45 billion in unpaid U.N. dues as long as Boutros-Ghali was at the helm.

Because it is an informal tradition that a region of the world gets two terms as secretary-general, the Organization of African Unity had a short time to suggest candidate. After weeks of rancorous debate among the Security Council members, the U.N. General Assembly agreed upon Kofi Annan as Boutros-Ghali's replacement.

Annan's successes, frustrations as U.N. chief

As secretary-general, Annan's first major initiative was his July 1997 plan for reform, "Renewing the United Nations." He streamlined the U.N. bureaucracy, cutting 1,000 of 6,000 positions its New York headquarters, reducing paperwork and reorganizing the secretariat into a cabinet-style system to create clearer lines of authority and quicker response to events.

Annan appointed and supported the election of women to key U.N. positions, including Louise Frechette of Canada as deputy secretary-general, Mary Robinson of Ireland as U.N. commissioner for human rights and Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway as head of the World Health Organization.
Annan also intervened in crisis situations around the world. In February 1998, convinced the Iraqis to cooperate with U.N. arms inspections in exchange for a few restrictions on the inspectors, averting a military confrontation. Iraq briefly complied and allowed inspectors into sites where they had been denied access for more than seven years.

Annan's frustrations include failed December 1998 negotiations where he met with Libyan Col. Moammar Gadhafi, trying to work out a deal for Libya to turn over two suspects wanted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
His April 1998 report to the U.N. Security Council on "The Causes of Conflict and the Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development in Africa" was one of several efforts to maintain an international commitment to Africa. His goal was for the United Nations to take a leading role in helping African nations move beyond conflict to modernization, but his efforts have been thwarted by continued unrest across the continent.
During his tenure, the 15-member U.N. Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body, has been paralyzed because of policy differences between the five nations with veto power -- the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

The United States has not paid as much as $1.6 billion in back U.N. dues. Further, the U.S. Congress attached a rider to dues-paying legislation that would prevent U.S. money from being used by international family planning organizations that perform or promote abortions, even if the organizations used their own funds. U.N. officials say the condition is an attempt to micromanage the United Nations.