In
Interventions: A Life in War and Peace, the first sub-Saharan African to hold
the position of Secretary-General tells the story of his mission through the
prism of some of the most consequential crises he confronted—and the way they
illustrate the wider consequences of the challenges facing the global community
of nations.
After 40 years
of service at the United Nations, Annan shares his experiences during the
terrorist attacks of September 11; the American invasions of Iraq and
Afghanistan; the war between Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon; the brutal
conflicts of Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia; and the geopolitical transformations
following the end of the Cold War.
Interventions
offers a deep understanding of the forces transforming our world, the
calamitous cost of conflict, and the still-great promise of global cooperation
in fighting poverty and disease. Annan is in conversation with novelist
and journalist David Ignatius.
Bio
Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan served as United Nations Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006. During his tenure, Mr. Annan was a resolute advocate for human rights, the rule of law, and the revitalization of the United Nations.
He played a key role in mobilizing a global effort to combat malaria and HIV/AIDS. He was instrumental in laying out the Millennium Development Goals, a strategy to meet the needs of the world's poorest by 2015. On 10th December 2001, Mr. Annan and the United Nations received the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in Ghana in 1938, Mr. Annan pursued postgraduate studies in Minnesota and Geneva, and received a Master's of Science in Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mr. Annan, a Ghanaian citizen, currently resides in Geneva, Switzerland.
David R. Ignatius
Washington Post columnist associate editor David Ignatius has had a distinguished and wide-ranging career in the news business, serving at various times as a reporter, foreign correspondent, editor and columnist. He has written widely for magazines and published several novels.
Ignatius' twice-weekly column on global politics, economics and international affairs debuted on the Washington Post op-ed page in January 1999. He continued to write weekly after becoming executive editor of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune in September 2000. When the Post sold its interest in the IHT in January 2003, Ignatius resumed writing twice a week for the op-ed page and was syndicated worldwide by the Washington Post Writers Group. His column won the 2000 Gerald Loeb Award for Commentary and a 2004 Edward Weintal Prize.
Prior to becoming a columnist, Ignatius served as the Post's assistant managing editor in charge of business news, foreign editor, and editor of the "Outlook" section. Before joining the Post in 1986, Ignatius spent 10 years as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and was an editor at The Washington Monthly. He has published articles in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Talk Magazine and The Washington Monthly. Ignatius has written seven novels, including 2007's Body of Lies, which was adapted into a Warner Bros. film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.
Raised in Washington, D.C., Ignatius attended Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1973. He received a Frank Knox Fellowship from Harvard and studied at King’s College, Cambridge University, where he received a diploma in economics.
Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, discusses the commitment of Ghana's civil society to uphold law and accountability and prevent government abuse.
International organization founded (1945) at the end of World War II to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations on equal terms, and encourage international cooperation in solving intractable human problems. A number of its agencies have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, and the UN was the corecipient, with Kofi Annan, of the prize in 2001. The term originally referred to the countries that opposed the Axis powers. An international organization was discussed at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, and the UN charter was drawn up two months later at the UN Conference on International Organization. The UN has six principal organs: the Economic and Social Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, the Secretariat, the United Nations Security Council, and the United Nations Trusteeship Council. It also has several specialized agencies—some inherited from its predecessor, the League of Nations (e.g., the International Labour Organization)—and a number of special offices (e.g., the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), programs, and funds (e.g., UNICEF). The UN is involved in economic, cultural, and humanitarian activities and the coordination or regulation of international postal services, civil aviation, meteorological research, telecommunications, international shipping, and intellectual property. Its peacekeeping troops have been deployed in several areas of the world, sometimes for lengthy periods. The UN's world headquarters are in New York City. In 2005 the UN had 192 member countries. The principal administrative officer of the UN is the secretary-general, who is elected to a five-year renewable term by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. The secretaries-general of the UN have been Trygve Lie (1946–53), Dag Hammarskjöld (1953–61), U Thant (1961–71), Kurt Waldheim (1972–81), Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (1982–91), Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1992–96), Kofi Annan (1997–2006), and Ban Ki-moon (2007– ).
