My Encounter with Kofi Annan by Abdulrazaq O Hamzat
My first encounter with Kofi Annan happened in my peace course material, then our path crossed in real life. Anyone who has a degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution will most likely come across the name of Kofi Annan and Boutrus Ghali almost on daily basis. Apart from Mahatma Ghandi of India, the famous nonviolent resistance activist, Boutrus Ghali and Kofi Annan are arguably the two most important figures in the development of peace practice, particularly at the United Nations. Whenever you hear the phrase, ''agenda for peace'', expect the mention of Boutrus Ghali, but when you hear ''peace building'', expect to hear Kofi Annan. Both men are from Africa and they are both former Secretary General of United Nations who played leading role in the development of those concepts. After coming across Kofi Annan all through my first degree classes in our course materials, i later came close to meeting the icon during my MSc. Immediately a...