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Featured Event 2018 Death

August 18

Kofi Annan Dies: UN's First African Leader and Nobel Laureate

Kofi Annan served as UN Secretary-General during some of its most contested years — the aftermath of Rwanda, the bombing of Kosovo, the US invasion of Iraq, the Oil-for-Food scandal. He was the first Secretary-General to rise from within the UN system itself rather than being appointed as an outside figure. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. He said later that Rwanda, where the UN failed to prevent the genocide while his office managed peacekeeping operations, was the failure he carried. He died in Bern in 2018 at 80.

August 18, 2018

8 years ago

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