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( Kofi Annan)
Kofi Atta Annan, GCMG (born April 8, 1938) is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1, 1997 to January 1, 2007, serving two five-year terms. Annan was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. Kofi Annan (rhymes with "cannon")[2]) was born to Victoria and Henry Reginald Annan in the Kofandros section of Kumasi, Ghana. He is a twin, an occurrence that is regarded as special in Ghanaian culture. His twin sister Efua Atta, who died in 1991, shares the middle name 'Atta', which in Fante and Akan means 'twin'. As with most Akan names, his first name indicates the day of the week he was born Kofi denotes a boy born on a Friday. The name Annan can indicate that a child was the fourth in the family, but in Annan's family at some time in the past it became a family name, which Annan inherited from his parents. In his earlier years at the UN, Annan's last name had widely been mispronounced like "anon"; Annan has let it be known that he pronounces his name to rhyme with "cannon" (/'æn?n/).[2] Annan's family was part of the country's elite; both of his grandfathers and his uncle were tribal chiefs. His father was Asante and Fante; his mother was Fante. Annan's father worked for a long period as an export manager for the Lever Brothers cocoa company.[citation needed] Annan is married to Nane Maria Annan, a Swedish lawyer and artist who is the half-niece of Raoul Wallenberg. He has two children, Kojo and Ama, from his previous marriage to a Nigerian woman, Titi Alakija, whom he divorced in the late 1970s. Annan also has one stepchild, Nina Cronstedt de Groot, Nane's daughter from a previous marriage.
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