Adesina eulogizes late Kofi Annan - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina has eulogized the late former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi A. Annan, saying he will greatly miss his words of wisdom, reports ITREALMS.

A tribute made available to ITREALMS, Adesina said, "It is with much sadness that I learnt of the death of Mr. Kofi A. Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations.

"He was a great personal mentor and father to me. His simplicity, decency, uncommon humility, selflessness and compassion made him a gem for humanity.

"A distinguished gentleman. He was a global icon and a man of peace who stood firmly in support of good governance and accountability for leaders.

"He was my boss as Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), when I was the Vice President for AGRA. He had an infectious passion for ending hunger and poverty in Africa. He greatly supported me when I was Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria, when he served as a member of the Eminent Persons Group that helped to support the transformation of agriculture in Nigeria.

“He energetically co-Chaired the High-level Panel of global leaders to support the African Development Bank in its efforts to accelerate Africa's development.

"As U.N. Secretary General and throughout a distinguished career, Mr. Annan made Africa stand tall globally. Africa has lost a great gem.

“I will greatly miss him and his rich words of wisdom. May his soul rest in peace.”

Chuks Egbune/ED, Ops.

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Kofi Annan advises African leaders to 'leave when your time is up'

ITRealms:

The former United Nations (UN) secretary-general, Kofi Annan, has advised African leaders to ensure they leave when their mandated time is up, so as to avoid excluding opposing voices if elections are to cease contributing to conflicts on the continent, reports ITRealms.

The renowned international diplomat said that while unconstitutional changes to government on the continent had reduced, exclusionary politics threatened to reverse the gains made.

“I think Africa has done well, by and large the coups have more or less ended, generals are remaining in their barracks, but we are creating situations which may bring them back,” the Nobel laureate said in an interview at the 5th Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa.

“If a leader doesn’t want to leave office, if a leader stays on for too long, and elections are seen as being gamed to suit a leader and he stays term after term after term, the tendency may be the only way to get him out is through a coup or people taking to the streets.

“Neither approach can be seen as an alternative to democracy, to elections or to parliamentary rule. Constitutions and the rules of the game have to be respected.”

Annan, the keynote speaker at the forum this year, said winner-take-all approaches to elections on the continent had the effect of leaving out citizens for holding an opposing view, raising tensions around elections.

Annan, who chairs the Africa Progress Panel and the Nelson Mandela-founded The Elders grouping, said he had been the first to tell the African Union not to accept coup leaders among their midst [during an OAU heads of state summit in Lusaka in 2001].

Annan also said that solutions to the problems the continent has must come from within. 

However, the continent must build up its ability to do so, including in financing its institutions.

“We cannot always pass a hat around and insist we want to be sovereign, we want to be independent. We should lead and get others to support us—that support will be much more forthcoming when they see how serious and committed we are.”

The African Union has struggled to get members to pay their dues to allow it run its operations and programmes efficiently, a recurrent theme addressed by leaders at the forum in the Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar.

Annan said such budgetary concerns were constraining the work of the continent in strengthening stability and required creative ways of resourcing.

“I was happy to hear them [African leaders] say ‘we must be prepared to pay for what we want; we must be prepared to put out our own money on the table and fund issues that are of great importance to us.”

The forum, now in its fifth year, is an inspiration of the late Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and is organised by the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) of Addis Ababa University.

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Kofi Annan to address Tana 2016 security in Africa

 ITRealms:

The former United Nations Secretary General and Chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, Kofi Annan, will be the keynote speaker in the fifth anniversary of Tana security in Africa to be held on April16 and 17, 2016, ITRealms reports. In a press statement, the organisers of the Tana high-Level Forum said the theme for the 2016 edition is tagged “Africa in the Global Security Agenda”. Held every year in the northern Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar, the Tana Forum is an informal gathering of a wide spectrum of African leaders and citizens: heads of state and government; leaders of regional organisations; civil society; the private sector; eminent scholars and practitioners; students and youth; and representatives of Africa’s global partners. Forum participants, ITRealms gathered, are drawn from across the continent and overseas. The Forum’s mission is to further open a vigorous debate on the nature and causes of Africa’s pressing security threats and, over time, to cultivate a distinctively African voice on understanding and confronting the chief peace and security challenges the continent is facing. “Africa is in midst of a rapid social, political, and economic transformation. These transformations and the changing fortunes of its citizens come with added responsibilities. As Africa’s economic importance in the world increases, it must assume its growing importance maturely and conscientiously, including on security related concerns. I look forward to discussing these issues at the 2016 Tana Forum”, said Kofi Annan Born in Ghana, Annan was the co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations for their work for a better organised and more peaceful world. With the Kofi Annan Foundation, Mr Annan mobilises political will to overcome threats to peace, development and human rights. ITRealms also learn that Annan also chairs the Elders Group founded by the late former South African President Nelson Mandela, and the Africa Progress Panel. The Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa, ITRealms informs, is an independent Forum on peace and security in Africa. Taking place every year in April on the shores of Lake Tana and the source of the Blue Nile in the picturesque lake side resort city of Bahir Dar in Ethiopia, the Forum brings together heads of state, academics, the private sector, and policy makers for two days of debate, discussions, and side meetings. Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!