THE next secretary-general of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan (58) of Ghana, has spent almost half of his life working for the UN.
The choice of Mr Annan as the successor to Dr Boutros BoutrosGhali and the world's top diplomat caps a 30-year career within the UN that has given the Ghanaian an intimate knowledge of the UN, from budgetary matters to peackeeeping.
Mr Annan had not planned on a life-long career at the UN. "I did not set out with the intention of working for the UN," he said in an interview last year. "I was looking forward to going home after I had finished my post-graduate studies, then I was presented with the opportunity of working with the World Health Organisation in Geneva for a couple of years and here I am today."
The Annan family, of merchant stock from the Fante ethnic group, originate from Cape Coast on the Atlantic Ocean. Mr Annan spent his early childhood in the town
Bekwai, near Kumasi, inland capital of the pre-colonial Ashanti empire.
His father Henry, who died last year, was district manager of the United Africa Company (now Unilever) and later a regional minister for Ashanti.
His mother, Mrs Victoria Annan (88), yesterday recalled how her son, a twin and the third of her five children, was a lively and mischievous child at elementary school "but he always managed to get away with it".
"In secondary school he was very quiet, he didn't date girls. Kofi was very strict because his father was very strict," she said. Mr Annan is married to Swedish-born Ms Nane Lagergren and they have three children.
Mr Annan has enjoyed a steady rise through the UN bureaucracy and it was the Bosnia conflict that thrust him into the public eye. Although faulted by some for a lack of charisma, his coolness under fire and his straightforward style earned him the respect of those who dealt with him.
Mr Annan is currently under secretary general for peace-keeping operations, a position he has held since 1993. Before that, he has worked in various administrative positions such as assistant secretary general for programme planning, budget and finance.
Mr Annan's priority is to restore spirits at a demoralised UN. The UN's reputation was particularly tarnished by the Bosnia quagmire, where the organisation was made the scapegoat for the diplomatic shortcomings of Britain, France and the US. The debacle in Bosnia followed the ill-fated nation-building exercise in Somalia that forced the UN to pull out, its tail between its legs.
An urgent task for Mr Annan is to be an effective chief spokesman for the UN and to promote the organisation, especially to an indifferent US populace, a job for which Dr Boutros-Ghali, for all his intellect, proved to be woefully underqualified.
Mr Annan has acknowledged that the UN has suffered from a public relations problem. "People talk of the failings of the UN, forgetting that we have had many success stories. Look at what happened in Namibin, Mozambique, Cambodia and in South Africa during the elections where we played a major role," Mr Annan said.
Mr Annan certainly is a popular choice with UN officials, who never liked the autocratic and remote Dr Boutros-Ghali.
But others have voiced reservations over Mr Annan's managerial expertise given his spotty management record over the years. And there are lingering doubts as to whether the mild-mannered, softspoken Mr Annan can stand up to the big powers. "If he has one weakness, it's his eagerness to please," a UN diplomat said.