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The Daily Insight

Who was UN secretary general before Kofi Annan?

Author

Sarah Duran

Updated on February 24, 2026

Who was UN secretary general before Kofi Annan?

Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Guterres’ predecessors as Secretary-General were: Ban Ki-moon (Korea) who served from January 2007 to December 2016; Kofi Annan (Ghana) who held office from January 1997 to December 2006; Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt), who held office from January 1992 to December 1996; Javier Pèrez de Cuèllar (Peru), who served from …

Who is the first black UN Secretary General?

KOFI A. ANNAN
KOFI A. ANNAN of Ghana, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, served from 1997 to 2006 and was the first to emerge from the ranks of United Nations staff.

When did UN Secretary General Kofi Annan initiated an inquiry into how the UN should be reformed?

1 January, 1997
In view of these growing demands for the restructuring of the UN, on 1 January, 1997, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan initiated an inquiry into how the UN should be reformed.

Who was the first Secretary-General of the UN in 1946?

Trygve Lie
Norwegian lawyer and politician Trygve Lie was the United Nations first Secretary-General. He held the post for seven years, from 1946 to 1953, and famously described it as “the most difficult job in the world”.

Who was the first Indian to be the president of UN General Assembly?

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (née Nehru; 18 August 1900 – 1 December 1990) was an Indian diplomat and politician who was the first woman appointed to 6th Governor of Maharashtra and 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly….Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.

Her Excellency Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
RelativesSee Nehru–Gandhi family
Signature

Who is the first president of UNO?

Paul-Henri Spaak

President of the United Nations General Assembly
Constituting instrumentCharter of the United Nations
Inaugural holderPaul-Henri Spaak
Formation1946
Website

What Kofi Annan did for Ghana?

Kofi Annan was also Chancellor of the University of Ghana and held a number of positions at Universities around the world. He was a board member, patron or honorary member of a number of organisations, including the United Nations Foundation.

Who coined the term United Nations?

President Franklin D. Roosevelt
1942: The Declaration by United Nations The Declaration by United Nations contained the first official use of the term ‘United Nations’. The name ‘United Nations’ was coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Which date was Kofi Annan elected as the Secretary General for the United Nations?

January 1997
Kofi Annan was UN Secretary General from January 1997 to December 2006.

Who was the first general secretary?

Secretary-General of the United Nations
Constituting instrumentUnited Nations Charter
Inaugural holderGladwyn Jebb as acting Secretary-General (24 October 1945) Trygve Lie as first Secretary-General (2 February 1946)
Formation24 October 1945
DeputyDeputy Secretary-General

Who is the second secretary-general of UN?

Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hammarskjöld
Hammarskjöld in the 1950s
2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations
In office 10 April 1953 – 18 September 1961
Preceded byTrygve Lie

Who is the first female president of India?

Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan administering the oath of office to new President Pratibha Patil. December 19, 1934, is the 12th President of India. She is the first woman and the first Maharashtrian to hold this post.

Who is Kofi Atta Annan?

Kofi Atta Annan (/ˈkoʊfi ˈænæn/; 8 April 1938 – 18 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, from January 1997 to December 2006.

When was Annan appointed as UN Secretary General?

Annan served as under-secretary-general from March 1994 to October 1995. He resumed the position in 1996 after a five-month appointment to serve as a special representative of the secretary-general to the former Yugoslavia.

Who is the former Secretary-General of the UN?

Kofi Annan was the former secretary-general of the United Nations and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Where did Annan go to college?

Annan went on to pursue higher education, attending four different colleges: Kumasi College of Science and Technology, now the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota; Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland; and the MIT Sloan School…