Anan was born into a noted Ghanaian family in 1938 and studied in Switzerland and the US. He joined the United Nations when he was 24 years old. By 1993, he was appointed the chief of its peacekeeping operations. One of his first challenges was the crisis in Somalia, in which clashes between US forces backed by the UN and Somali militiamen claimed lives of 18 American soldiers.

The UN's peacekeeping forces failed to stop the mid-1990s genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. The botched missions molded Annan, "creating a new understanding of the legitimacy, and necessity, of intervention in the face of gross violations of human rights," he wrote in his 2012 autobiography.

By 1996 the US was set on removing then-UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who had repeatedly bumped heads with Washington. Annan, on the other hand, while momentarily standing in for an unreachable Boutros-Ghali, allowed a US-led intervention in Bosnia to begin. The US eventually vetoed Boutros-Ghali's bid for a second term, opening the way for Annan to claim the post in 1997.

In 2001, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee awarded the honor to the UN and its leader Kofi Annan, praising Annan for revitalizing UN and fighting for human rights. "I do not stand here alone," Annan said in his acceptance speech. He thanked the committee on behalf of his UN colleagues "who have devoted their lives — and in many instances risked or given their lives in the cause of peace."

The US invaded Iraq in 2003, bypassing the UN Security Council and angering many of its closes allies. Annan openly opposed the invasion and slammed it as "illegal." The remarks sparked anger among his former backers in Washington.

Annan found himself mired in a corruption scandal over the Iraq Oil-for-Food program in 2004, with his son Kojo receiving fees from a company involved in the deal. The UN secretary-general was eventually cleared of wrongdoing. Still, questions remained about Annan's role in securing the deal for his son. Some observers believed the scandal was orchestrated by US diplomats.

Annan completed his two five-year terms by 2006 and was succeeded by Ban Ki-moon. Still, the Ghanaian-born diplomat continued to be active on the world stage. Alongside Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and other notable diplomats and activists, he founded The Elders, an NGO fighting for peace and human rights.

Annan once again took center stage as the UN's first envoy to Syria in 2012, during the initial fighting of what was to become a long-running and bloody civil war. However, he resigned some five months later, frustrated with the big powers' failure to honor their commitments. "I lost my troops on the way to Damascus," he said.

In 2016, Annan traveled to Myanmar to lead an advisory commission on the conflict with the Rohingya, sparking hectic protests among the nation's Buddhist majority. Eventually, the commission issued a report urging the government to fight poverty among the Rohingya and ensure their rights. In October 2017, Annan called on the UN to pressure Myanmar into taking back the exiled Rohingya.