Kofi Annan

Secretary-General of the United Nations

Kofi Annan is the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. He began his first term in January 1997 — and in June 2001 the General Assembly appointed him to a second term of office ending in December 2006.

Mr. Annan was born in Kumasi, Ghana on April 8, 1938.

He studied at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi — and completed his undergraduate work in economics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1961.

From 1961 to 1962, he undertook graduate studies in economics at the Institut universitaire des hautes études internationales in Geneva.

As a 1971-1972 Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mr. Annan received a Master of Science degree in management.

On December 10, 2001, the Secretary-General and the United Nations received the Nobel Peace Prize. In conferring the Prize, the Nobel Committee said Mr. Annan "had been preeminent in bringing new life to the Organization".

The Secretary-General is fluent in English, French and several African languages. He is married to Nane Annan, of Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Annan have three children.