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My intimate knowledge of the [UN] system allowed me to get things done despite the many obstacles.

Kofi Annan

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Kofi Annan
Age: 80 †
Born: 1938
Born: April 8
Died: 2018
Died: August 18
Diplomat
Economist
Politician
Coomassie
Kofi Atta Annan
Annan
Kofi A. Annan
Allowed
Despite
System
Knowledge
Done
Many
Things
Intimate
Obstacles

More quotes by Kofi Annan

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We have seen recently, almost every major head of state goes to India and says, we believe India should be in the Council. They go back home and do nothing about it. But this cannot be sustained for long. If they want to keep the UN as a global forum where they discuss incidents and take some meaningful decisions, they should [reform].
Kofi Annan
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I have always believed that on important issues, the leaders must lead. Where the leaders fail to lead, and people are really concerned about it, the people will take the lead and make the leaders follow.
Kofi Annan
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One has to have the strength of character to say the time has come to move on... unless you are a king.
Kofi Annan
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The young and dynamic and idealistic people in the square do not have the chance to organise themselves politically, to be able to follow through their dreams in six months time, to play an effective role in the future.
Kofi Annan
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It is extreme arrogance for one to think he...and it's usually he, is the only one who can govern his country and nobody else can do it.
Kofi Annan
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In some ways, the challenges are even more daunting than they were at the peak of the cold war. Not only do we continue to face grave nuclear threats, but those threats are being compounded by new weapons developments, new violence within States and new challenges to the rule of law.
Kofi Annan
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For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.
Kofi Annan
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The World is not ours to keep. We hold it in trust for future generations.
Kofi Annan
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When the US withdrew their troops from Somalia, I recall making a comment that [in] the way the peacekeepers had been withdrawn from Somalia, the impression had been given that the easiest way to unravel a peacekeeping operation is to kill a few soldiers.
Kofi Annan
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Generals often find a way of dealing with generals on the officer-to-officer level. In the hierarchy of the military and with the almost similar structure and similar language, they find a way of dealing with each other.
Kofi Annan
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If there is one area where equity is crucial and essential, I think it should be the issue of water.
Kofi Annan
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More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations.
Kofi Annan
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Sometimes in peacekeeping operations you show force in order not to use force - people realise that there's a pushback and there's a solid force there that's not going to be pushed around, that sometimes helps.
Kofi Annan
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Like any large organisation, public or private, the UN is a complex machine.
Kofi Annan
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Some have suggested that ideally there must be some international body that would treat areas like the Arctic as a global commerce, a bit like the way we treat the sea. It doesn't belong to any particular country, but to all of us, but I'm not sure some of the powerful are ready for that sort of solution.
Kofi Annan
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On this International Day of Peace, let us all honor those who have suffered from violence. Let us hold in our hearts the ideal of peace.
Kofi Annan
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The happiness of any society begins with the well being of the families that live in it.
Kofi Annan
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Acquiring literacy is an empowering process, enabling millions to enjoy access to knowledge and information which broadens horizons, increases opportunities and creates alternatives for building a better life.
Kofi Annan
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As I travel around the world, people think the only place where there is potential conflict [over] water is the Middle East, but they are completely wrong. We have the problem all over the world.
Kofi Annan
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It is tragic that so few young people in Western democracies vote. They have forgotten that their ancestors fought for the right to choose and change their leaders. They don't realise that their votes are more important than their tweets or Facebook posts.
Kofi Annan