The world pays tribute to Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general and Nobel Peace Prize winner

Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general and Nobel Peace Prize winner, died "peacefully" in a hospital in Bern in Switzerland after a brief illness at the age of 80.

Annan, born in Ghana in the 1938, was the seventh UN general secretary, from the 1997 to the 2006, the first African to lead the Glass Palace. After the two terms of secretary general he had also been sent UN special to Syria, leading the efforts for a peaceful solution to the bloody conflict.

In the 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with the United Nations "for their work for a more peaceful and better organized world".

Kofi Atta Annan graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul in Minnesota and completed his studies in economics at the Institut Universitaire des Hautes etudes in Geneva and in management at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the United Nations since 1962, the entire career of the Ghanaian diplomat has been carried out within the UN bureaucracy. In 1993, he was given the post of head of peace missions. He was UN Secretary General for two terms, from January 1997 to December 2006.

Antonio Guterres, the current UN secretary general, said in a brief statement: "Kofi Annan was a driving force for good".

The foundation that bears his name stated that "Kofi Annan was a global statesman and a deeply committed internationalist, who fought all his life for a more equitable and peaceful world. In his distinguished United Nations career and leadership he has been a passionate promoter of peace, sustainable development, human rights and the rule of law ".

The world pays tribute to Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general and Nobel Peace Prize winner

| MONDO |