Kofi Annan served two terms as UN Secretary-General in New York from 1997-2006 and retired in Geneva and later lived in a Swiss village in the nearby countryside.
“In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations. He rose through the ranks to lead the organisation into the new millennium with matchless dignity and determination,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whom Annan had chosen to head the UN refugee agency, said in a statement.
“The U.N. can be improved, it is not perfect but if it didn’t exist you would have to create it,” he told the BBC’s Hard Talk during an interview for his 80th birthday last April, recorded at the Geneva Graduate Institute where he had studied
“I am a stubborn optimist, I was born an optimist and will remain an optimist,” Annan added.
As far as Cyprus is concerned, Annan’s name has been immortalised on what is known as the Annan plan, the 2004 UN-backed solution to the Cyprus problem, which was worked out in Burgenstock, Switzerland earlier that year.
At the time, the Annan plan of 2002 to 2004 was the UN’s most concerted and detailed attempt to reach a federal solution to the Cyprus problem. The plan was supported by much of the international community. There was strong backing in particular from the EU because Cyprus, represented internationally by the Greek Cypriots, was set to join the bloc in 2004. The EU was keen to see the island re-united first.
However, in twin referendums on 24 April 2004, Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected the Annan plan, with 75.8 per cent voting against, while Turkish Cypriots accepted it, with 64.9 per cent in favour.
In a statement issued by the presidential palace on Saturday the Cyprus government expressed its condolences.”Despite the fact that his efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, and the plan which bore his name were not met with success, his name has been linked to the issue of occupied Cyprus,” a statement said.
The government said that 12 years after the end of Annan’s term and 44 years after the Turkish invasion and occupation of a part of the island, the problem remains unresolved. “This necessitates that we intensify our efforts, in cooperation with the UN, to finally enact in Cyprus the decisions and resolutions of the international organisation, and the values of the EU as part of a comprehensive solution, based on the process and parameters set out by the current UN Secretary-General,” the statement said.
The statement said that Annan had also left his mark on the fight against poverty and AIDS in Africa.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci also tweeted his condolences saying: “I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and the loved ones of the former UNSG Kofi Annan for his passing away. His dedication for a better and peaceful world as well as his great efforts for a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus will always be remembered. RIP.”
Espen Barh Eide, the former UN Secretary-General Special envoy for Cyprus who oversaw the last round of talks on Cyprus that failed last year in Crans-Montana also tweeted: “Deeply saddened by the loss of one of the greatest leaders of our times, a voice of reason in an unreasonable world, a man of compassion, dialogue and peace, a wonderful human being, and a good friend. RIP @KofiAnnan”
The Greek Cypriot political parties which opposed the Annan plan were silent on Saturday other than socialist Edek, whose leader Marinos Sizopooulos tweeted: “He connected his name to the worst and most divisive plan for a solution to the #CyProb. As an African, who lived through colonisation and the post-colonisation institution, he should have been more just.”
Annan presented a first version of his plan in November 2002 and a fifth and final version in March 2004. He had wanted the final text to emerge from negotiations between the two sides but, amid continuing deadlock, finalised the text himself. (In contrast, the 2015-16 drive for a settlement is wholly “Cypriot-owned”, with the UN acting solely as a facilitator.)
The Annan plan was opposed by the hardline veteran Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, but most Turkish Cypriots were enthusiastic. They hoped that a settlement would enable them to end their isolation by entering the EU alongside the Greek Cypriots in a reunited Cyprus.
Greece also supported the Annan plan, as did Turkey where the Justice and Development Party, AKP, won a landslide victory in November 2002 under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He had made Turkey’s membership of the EU a priority and knew accession was impossible while Turkey occupied northern Cyprus.
There was less incentive for the Greek Cypriots who, in April 2003, had already been guaranteed EU membership. President Tassos Papadopoulos was stridently opposed to the Annan plan and in a televised speech urged Greek Cypriots to reject it. He argued that it was tailored to suit Turkish interests at the expense of Greek Cypriot rights and would legalise the island’s de facto partition instead of reuniting it. Papadopoulos also calculated that Greek Cypriots could secure a more favourable Cyprus settlement once they were in the EU.
His speech prompted the communist party, Akel, a coalition partner in the Papadopoulos administration, to withdraw its earlier support for the UN proposals. Disy, the right-wing party then led by Nicos Anastasiades, backed the Annan plan, which was also supported by two former presidents, George Vassiliou and Glafcos Clerides.
Annan expressed dismay at the Greek Cypriot ‘no’ vote, as did Washington, London and Brussels. Cyprus entered the EU a week later on 1 May 2004, with only the Greek Cypriots enjoying the benefits of membership. The acquis communautaire, or body of EU law, was suspended in northern Cyprus pending the island’s reunification.
He said at the time: “The goal of the effort over the last four and a half years has been to bring about reunification so as to enable a reunited Cyprus to join the European Union. That goal has not been achieved. A unique and historic chance to resolve the Cyprus problem has been missed. Meanwhile, Cyprus will remain divided and militarised as it accedes to the European Union, and the benefits of a settlement will not be realised.”