ACCRA, Aug. 27 -- The national flags of Ghana are flying at half mast across the country and at the country's missions around the globe.
Kofi Annan, former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, passed on at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland, after a short illness.
"We knew that in August he tends to come to Ghana and stay in his house and family members will go and see him. So we were looking forward to seeing him in August. So to hear this news is really shattering," Kojo Amoo Gottfried, Ghana's former ambassador to China, told Xinhua on Saturday hours after the news broke.
Amoo-Gottfried, who grew up with Kofi Annan in Bompata, Kumasi, said: "As a man, Kofi was forthright, truthful and did what he considered to be right, and never gave up."
Commentators say not only do people in war-torn countries recognize the greatness of Annan, who took over from Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1997 as the seventh UN secretary-general, but also the youth and women see a father figure in him.
"To say he is a statesman is an understatement. He lived fulfilled life always preaching peace and fairness in the world and he practiced it so much," Ghana's deputy information minister Nana Ama Dokuaa Asiamah-Adjei remarked in an interview with Xinhua.
"His fight for the youth, his fight for women, we cannot forget," she said, adding that her wish was for Annan to have stayed a little longer for Ghana and Africa to tap into his reservoir of experience.
Ordinary Ghanaians like Eric Kwaku, a taxi driver, said Annan's achievements were a source of pride for Ghanaians.
"I felt proud when he rose to the secretary general position as a Ghanaian ... He did the best for the world," he told Xinhua in his native Twi language on Sunday.
Wosila Asumbe Abubakar, a level-100 student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), said the late secretary general's ascent to that position was great honor to Ghana.
"His death is a big blow to Ghana," the young student said. "He fought for peace around the world and was successful. It gives me a lot of inspiration."
Joseph Opoku, an estate developer, said Annan's achievements have been of great inspiration to his family, and he tried to let his children model their lives around that of the revered global statesman.
"I even visited his family home at Cape Coast and that of Kumasi, and so it is like, it became a sort of inspiration for me."
Inspired by Annan, Opoku said he decided to send all his children abroad after secondary education for them to get exposed to the world, make good use of opportunities out there and serve the world.
In 2004, the UN opened an international peacekeeping training center in Ghana's capital in honor of their serving secretary-general.
Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, Head of the Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC), told Xinhua that: "Annan and Mandela epitomized the optimism and the hopes of the independence movement."
"Annan was a young man when we got independence, probably about 19 years, so he took this optimism and the hope that the black man can deliver and he lived up to it," he said.
In the institute, Aning said the feeling was that of shock, loss and sadness, tinged with the new desire to work harder to protect the legacy that the former secretary-general stood for.
"I think Annan meant different things to different people. For the refugee in Dafour whom Annan visited ... he was almost like a god," the expert said.
He listed places such as Tusla, Trebenista and Syria, Rwanda, Kenya and Iraq where the late secretary-general endeared himself to the people.
Aning revealed that any time elections were held in Ghana, Annan was quietly behind the scene urging leaders to choose peace over violence.
The expert credited the late secretary-general with the introduction of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as some of the finest works on HIV/AIDS, the green revolution and new thinking into ICT.
"Those were the legacies of Mr. Annan because they were decisions that were centered on the human being; how do we improve human lives, that has remained, and that is why he still is the face of the United Nations," Aning added.
现实版全职美人鱼翩翩起舞 “尾巴”造价1万英镑
男人对自身长相更满意 幸福感更高
澳鼓励器官捐赠 在职捐赠者将获现金补偿
服用避孕药的女性更喜欢阴柔男
今年下岗落谁家: 美国办公室职员岗位大减
戴隐形眼镜感染寄生虫 美国18岁少女险失明
乐天派生活手册:保持快乐心情的5个小秘密
时间利用四法则:给更重要的事留出更多时间
性别避风港: 容易被忽视的女性犯罪
无子女男性比无子女女性更易抑郁
以为中了彩票大奖会让你永远快乐吗?
是时候做出改变了:不要再做和开始去做的5件事
美康涅狄格州出台最严控枪法案
小事情大麻烦: 帮朋友忙要不要收钱
印度发明防强奸内衣 配全球定位系统
BBC撒切尔夫人生平讣文: 接过父亲的接力棒
美国熊孩子考卷上的神回答:你会给他打多少分?
英国前首撒切尔夫人去世 享年87岁
调查:健康问题困扰大多中国人
现代网络时代:如何利用各种网络资源提升自己?
等待的时间很难熬?等人时你可以做的7件事
后愚人节效应: 最佳愚人节笑话
国内英语资讯:Chinas top legislature wraps up bimonthly session
弗爵爷:纠正同事的语病
职场新调查:工作生活失衡不能怪老板
凯特王妃身怀六甲仍穿高跟 玩篮球打乒乓不亦乐乎
说的是你吗?8大特征揭秘焦虑的控制狂
权势之争:董事长与CEO之间的种种
瞻望世界: 全球十大EMBA最新排名
哭笑不得: 北京污染赶跑外国人
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |