Kofi Annan: key dates

Key dates in the life of former UN chief and Nobel peace laureate Kofi Annan, the first black man to head the world body.

- April 8, 1938: Born in the Ghanaian city of Kumasi to an aristocratic family from the Fante tribe.

- 1962: After studying economics in Geneva he joined the World Health Organization and went to work in a number of other UN bodies including the UN refugee agency.

- 1972: Annan obtained a master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

- 1993-96: He served deputy head of UN peacekeeping, during the Rwandan genocide and the war in Bosnia.

- January 1, 1997: He became UN secretary general, the first from within the organisation and the first from sub-Saharan Africa. He was re-elected for a second five-year term in June 2001.

- October 12, 2001: Annan and the United Nations were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

- 2005: He became embroiled in a corruption scandal over the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

- 2007: He became a founding member of The Elders, a group of statesmen who speak out on global issues. He also set up the Kofi Annan Foundation which says it aims to promote better global governance and work for peace.

- February 2012: Annan is chosen by the United Nations and the Arab League to mediate in the Syrian war, but he throws in the towel five moths later.

- August 18, 2018: Annan dies in Switzerland after a short illness.