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Kofi (Atta) Annan

(born April 8, 1938, Kumasi, Gold Coast) Seventh secretary-general of the United Nations (1997–2006), who shared, with the UN, the 2001 Nobel Prize for Peace. He was the son of a provincial governor and hereditary paramount chief of the Fante people. He did graduate work at Geneva's Institute for Advanced International Studies and at MIT. He has spent almost his entire career within the UN, beginning at the World Health Organization (1962). As undersecretary-general for peacekeeping (from 1993), he transferred peacekeeping operations in Bosnia from the UN to NATO. Elected in December 1996, he became the first UN secretary-general from sub-Saharan Africa, and he enjoyed a mandate to reform the UN bureaucracy. He criticized the UN's failure to prevent or minimize genocide in Rwanda (1994) and unsettled many by declaring that the UN should address human-rights violations perpetrated by governments against their own people. His priorities included restoring public confidence in the organization and strengthening the UN's activities for peace and development. Annan was appointed to a second term in 2001, and terrorism and global security became major issues following the September 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. He also oversaw the adoption of a number of reforms, including many institutional and administrative changes, though some measures, such as the expansion of the UN Security Council, were rejected. Annan left office in 2006, succeeded by Ban Ki-moon.For more information on Annan, Kofi (Atta), visit Britannica.com.