S'pore leaders extend condolences over former UN chief Kofi Annan's death

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                                    (Singapore Today Monday 20 August 2018)

S'pore leaders extend condolences over former UN chief Kofi Annan's death

By Louisa Tang

UN-Arab League mediator Annan addresses a news conference in Geneva. Reuters file photo

Updated 20 August, 2018

SINGAPORE — The loss of former United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan, who died on Saturday at the age of 80, was a "loss for the world", said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday (Aug 20).

In a condolence letter to his wife Nane Annan, Mr Lee said that diplomats and staff in Singapore remember the Nobel Peace Prize laureate for "his personal humility, compassion and empathy".

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Annan made his first official visit to Singapore with Mrs Annan in 2000 to deliver the Singapore Lecture, where he spoke of the need to maintain an international order "based on something better than the grim maxim that might is right", and the value of international law to both big and small countries.

"Mr Annan also called for greater co-operation and determination to tackle social, economic, and political issues, within a framework of shared values and a sense of our common humanity. In his life and work, Mr Annan embodied these principles," Mr Lee said.

Annan, a Ghanaian, died in a hospital in Bern, Switzerland, in the early hours of Saturday. After rising through the ranks of the United Nations, he served two terms as UN Secretary-General in New York from 1997 to 2006 before retiring to live in a Swiss village in the Geneva countryside.

One of his biggest contributions, Mr Lee noted, was to forge a consensus for the Millennium Development Goals.

The United Nations Millennium Declaration — signed in September 2000 — committed world leaders to try to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women by 2015.

This became the foundation for the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

He continued to promote global peace, security and sustainable development even after stepping down as secretary-general, through his work in the Kofi Annan Foundation and as Joint Special Representative for Syria and as Head of the Advisory Commission on the Rakhine State, Mr Lee added.

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong also penned a condolence letter to Mrs Annan, saying he had "fond memories" of interacting with Annan during his visit to Singapore in 2000.

Mr Goh also hosted him to dinner in February 2010 when he was in Singapore as the first Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Li Ka-shing scholar.

"Mr Annan was a wise and thoughtful leader who brought grace, humility and dignity to the office of the Secretary-General. The world has lost an iconic leader and a wonderful human being. His passing is a great loss for all of us," Mr Goh said.

In a letter to Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said that Annan "made significant contributions to the international community through his illustrious career".

He was a strong supporter of multilateralism and will always be greatly respected and fondly remembered for strengthening the global institutional framework for peace and security, said Dr Balakrishnan. "We join you in mourning the loss of a great diplomat and statesman."

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