wfn.org | World Methodist Council honors Annan for courage in pursuit of

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peace

June 9, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York      {352}

NOTE:  A photograph is available with this story.

By United Methodist News Service

Kofi A. Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, will receive the
1998 World Methodist Peace Award.

He was chosen for the award because of his courage, creativity and
consistency in the pursuit of human reconciliation and world peace,
according to Frances Alguire, president of the World Methodist Council.

She noted that Annan has shown creativity during his career in
international diplomacy and has recognized "the intimate link between
global development needs, human rights and the peaceful resolution of
conflict."

Alguire also cited Annan's "consistency in setting aside personal
interests in favor of what is right and just, including personal peace
initiatives which have taken him into areas of conflict in ways which no
secretary-general since Dag Hammarskjold has accomplished."

She recalled his "extraordinary courage," particularly around recent
tensions in the Persian Gulf.

"Dr. Annan has provided a model of impartial international civil service
and a voice of reason and wisdom in a world which tends to see solutions
to conflict more in the use of armed force than careful diplomacy,"
Alguire said.

The secretary-general also demonstrates "that Africa can make its own
contribution to world peace," said Bishop Mvume Dandala of the Methodist
Church of Southern Africa.
	
"Two things greatly excite me about Kofi Annan: His determination to
challenge and help Africa overcome its legacy of violence and
destructive coups, and the contribution he made to world peace as
demonstrated by his efforts in the recent Gulf Crisis," Dandala said.

Annan, 50, is a graduate of the Methodist Mfantispim School in Ghana, a
top secondary school there. 

He was appointed to a five-year term as secretary-general in December
1996 and has had a varied career at the United Nations. He has held
positions as under-secretary-general for peace-keeping operations,
controller of finance and assistant secretary-general for human
resources management.

His diplomatic assignments have included renegotiating the repatriation
of more than 900 international staff and the release of Western hostages
in Iraq in 1990; initiating discussions on trading "oil for food" to
ease the humanitarian crisis in Iraq; and overseeing the transition from
a United Nations protective force to a multinational presence in the
former Yugoslavia in 1995.

The World Methodist Peace Award is expected to be presented to Annan in
New York this fall, before a gathering of Methodist church leaders,
ecumenical guests and civic leaders. The award was voted on by a
20-member international committee of the council. Past recipients have
included President Jimmy Carter in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 and
the Rev. Elias Chacour of Galilee, Israel, in 1994.

Founded in London in 1881, the World Methodist Council links 73
Methodist and related United Church denominations in 108 countries. The
council has offices in Lake Junaluska, N.C., and Geneva.

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United Methodist News Service
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