The former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan has died at the age of 80, world media report.
Kofi Annan served as the Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. The Resolution 1244 was adopted during his mandate. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work.
As Secretary-General, Annan visited Kosovo several times. The first time he visited was soon after the conflict ended, in October 1999, when he traveled to Pristina two days after Albanians killed UN officials who addressed them in Serbian.
During his visit, Annan met with Serbian and Albanian leaders.
“The mandate makes it clear that we should administer this territory as an autonomous region, but within the boundaries of former Yugoslav republic. Therefore, from our point of view, we are not here to prepare the people for independence, we have to work within the mandate,” Annan said.
Annan also visited Kosovska Mitrovica.
“He provided people everywhere with a space for dialogue, a place for problem-solving and a path to a better world. 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 us,” said the current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Below you can see videos of Annan’s visit to Kosovo in 1999 from the AP archive:
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
