Kofi Annan's family has paid a touching tribute to the former UN chief describing the accomplished as a 'stubborn optimist' who kept 'striving to create a freer, fairer, more peaceful world'.

The released a statement on Tuesday - four days after he passed away revealing the inner secrets of how they enjoyed their family life with him despite his hectic schedules.

The statement also revealed he instilled in his family the values he used to serve the world at the United Nations like fairness, integrity and kindness.

Below is the full family statement

On 18 August, the world lost a leader and a statesman: Kofi Atta Annan.

And we lost a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and an uncle – a man of deep conviction who was as committed to instilling the values of fairness, integrity, kindness, and service in each of us, as he was to advocating for peace and human rights around the world.

He was as present with each of us and the family as a whole, as he was with every crisis, every mission, and every intervention.

No call, email, or text went unanswered.

No personal crises unaddressed.

No major family milestones or celebrations unattended, no matter what was happening in the world.

So while we shared him with the world, we were never poorer for it.

Today, buoyed and comforted by the outpouring of love and support we have received from around the world, we are richer for having shared him with you. Stubborn optimist that he was, he would want us all to look forward with hope, and keep striving to create a freer, fairer, more peaceful world.

Daddy, may you rest in perfect peace knowing the depth of our love for you and gratitude for the tremendous role you played in each of our lives.

Atta says, “Bye bye Grandpa, enjoy heaven!”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Annan’s approach to personal diplomacy was a study in contrast to his immediate predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, whose imperious character had antagonised member countries to such an extent that the security council refused him a second term in 1996 and instead sought out a “safe pair of hands”.

The Americans championed Annan, and he won easily enough.

Unlike the previous holders of the secretary general’s office, Annan was a classic insider who had spent his entire working life within the UN system. When he joined the UN civil service in 1962, he could not have envisaged that his career ladder would stretch all the way up to the 38th floor of the UN headquarters in New York, where the secretary general has his spacious office. It was without precedent.

One of four children, and a twin, Annan was born in Kumasi at a time when the city was the provincial capital of the Ashanti tribe, the aristocracy of the Gold Coast – as Ghana was known while it remained a British colony.

His father was a cocoa buyer for Unilever. Kofi was sent to boarding school in the Gold Coast and went on to the College of Science and Technology in Kumasi. He described his childhood as “a tribal life in a tribal society”.

This, he said, shaped his character: “I have always preferred to lead the simple life, since it gives you more freedom and room for manoeuvre in adjusting to any setting in which you find yourself.”

Ghana gained its independence in 1957. A year later, Annan won a Ford Foundation scholarship to study in the US, at Macalester College in St Paul, Minnesota. He went to Geneva for graduate studies in economics at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales. There he also perfected his French and joined the World Health Organisation as an administrative officer in 1962.

Annan took time off from UN work in 1971-72, to gain a master’s degree in management at MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Afterwards, in a steady progression of jobs both within the UN secretariat and with US specialised agencies, Annan served with the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and with the UN Emergency Force in Egypt.

From the mid-80s onwards, he was firmly anchored at UN headquarters in New York, occupying a series of high-level positions, including under-secretary general of peacekeeping operations, 1993-95.

The UN civil service cheered when Annan was elected secretary general, not only because one of their own had made it to the top, but because they had confidence in him and believed that he could lead the UN out of the doldrums.

Annan always saw it as his main concern to use the UN for the fight against poverty, injustice and disease in the less advantaged member countries.

Annan is survived by his wife, Nane (nee Lagergren), whom he married in 1984, and a stepdaughter, Nina; and by the son, Kojo, and daughter, Ama, from his first marriage, to Titi Alakija, which ended in divorce.