Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan passes away

Kofi Annan (80), the former UN secretary-general and a Ghanaian diplomat, has passed away in Switzerland on August 18, 2018. He served two terms as UN chief from 1997 to 2006. Mr Annan was the first black African to become UN secretary-general. He later served as the UN special envoy for Syria, leading efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 for helping to revitalize the international body, during a period that coincided with the Iraq War and the HIV/Aids pandemic. In September 2016, Annan was appointed to lead a UN commission to investigate the Rohingya crisis.