Mourning Ghanaians take farewell with Kofi Annan

Members of the public pay their respects as the coffin of former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan lies in state at the Accra International Conference Center in Ghana Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. Ghanaians are paying their respects to Annan, who died in August in Switzerland at age 80, ahead of Thursday's state funeral. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Mourning Ghanaians are flowing into the Accra International Conference Center in Ghana’s capital to take farewell with  UN’s former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to Thursday’s state funeral, Annan’s coffin covered in Ghana’s colours red, green and yellow, is located at the conference center, allowing Ghanaans to say a last goodbye to the country’s big son.

A retired teacher Kwaku Atiemo is among the many who came to show his last respect to Annan on Tuesday.

“God should have given him some more years so that he could improve the world,” he told AP.

Annan died August 18 after short-term illness, 80 years old.

He was the UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 together with the UN for revitalizing it , and its contribution towards a better organized and peaceful world.

He will be put to rest at a state funeral in the capital Accra on Thursday this week, where Crown Princess Mette-Marit will represent Norway.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today

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