Kofi Annan To Speak Today

By Eileen K. McCluskey

Special to the Gazette

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will visit Harvard today, Sept. 17.

After meeting with Harvard officials and faculty this morning and attending a luncheon, Annan will deliver a public lecture at 4:30 p.m. in Sanders Theatre. The talk, which is open to the public, is titled The Politics of Globalization. President Neil L. Rudenstine will introduce Annan. No tickets are required, but seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 3:45 p.m.

"Mr. Annan is a major presence in global affairs, playing a central role in peacekeeping efforts worldwide," said Professor Samuel P. Huntington, chairman of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, which is sponsoring Annan's visit. "In less than two years as secretary-general, Mr. Annan has made a significant impact at the United Nations. Many people agree that he will be the most influential secretary-general since Dag Hammarskj¼ld, who served in that position from 1953 to 1961."

Annan, a national of Ghana who is fluent in English, French, and several African languages, became the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations on Jan. 1, 1997.

Throughout his remarkably varied United Nations career, which spans three decades, Annan has focused on questions of management Ñ administration, budget, finance, and personnel Ñ as well as on refugee issues and peacekeeping. He has carried out a number of sensitive diplomatic assignments, including negotiating the repatriation of more than 900 international staff and the release of Western hostages in Iraq following that country's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Annan also oversaw the transition from the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia to the multinational Implementation Force led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) following the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement.

"Kofi Annan's efforts at peacekeeping throughout the world, and at institution-building within the U.N., have been remarkable if not heroic," said University Marshal Richard M. Hunt. "He continues a long line of visits to Harvard of the secretaries-general of the United Nations, and we are very proud to welcome him to the University."