A legend has left us

There are not many people that becomes legends in their own time. Someone has said there are maybe 2-3 in every generation.

I think that one of them left us today.

Today we mourn the loss of a great man, a leader, and a visionary – former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

Kofi Annan, the first black African to lead the United Nations, has died at age 80. He served as Secretary-General at a time when worries about the Cold War were replaced by threats of global terrorism, and his efforts to combat those threats and secure a more peaceful world brought him the Nobel Peace Prize.

Kofi had a connection to Sweden being married to his Swedish wife Nane.

When He enetered a room you could feel thst he had that energy, integrity and charisma that only great leaders have. I have had the honor to experience that myself.

Jens Stoltenberg, Head of NATO, tweeted that the world had lost one of its giants. “His warmth should never be mistaken for weakness,” he said. “Annan showed that one can be a great humanitarian and a strong leader at the same time.”

Annan, who was born in Ghana in 1938, served as the seventh UN Secretary-General, from 1997 to 2006, and was the first to rise from within the ranks of the United Nations staff.

He had also been a member, since 2007, of The Elders, a humanitarian group of a dozen leaders and activists of worldwide stature formed by Nelson Mandela. In 2013, Annan became its chairman.

The present Secretary-General Antionio Guterres expressed the admirstion and gratefulness for Kofi Annans lifelong service to the organtization.

“In these turbulent and trying times, he never stopped working to give life to the values of the United Nations Charter. His legacy will remain a true inspiration for all of usd”

Kofi Annan was UN. He lived and served his life in the organization and for the people of the world. For us.