Kojo Annan
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Kojo Annan (born July 1973 in Geneva, Switzerland) is the son of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Kojo and his sister Ama Annan are from Kofi Annan's first marriage with the Nigerian Titi Alakija. A January 2005 article in the Sunday Times catapulted him to fame when it announced that he had confessed involvement in the U.N. Oil for Food program scandal; in a libel settlement eleven months later, the paper announced that it now "entirely accepts that the allegation was untrue.".Wald, Jonathan, ["Annan's son settles UK libel case"], CNN, November 11, 2005. At issue was the use of political associations to gain the private sale of oil from Iraq through the UN—which was illegal as Iraq was under UN sanctions (following the Persian Gulf War of 1991) and showed a conflict of interest because it compromised the UN's neutral role. Further, the Oil for Food program was a strictly humanitarian venture—to use it as a means to gain profit was to steal from the Iraqi people. From 1995 to 1997, Kojo Annan worked in West Africa for the Swiss-based inspection company Cotecna, then as a marketing consultant for the company. A July 1998 billing memo for Cotecna stated that Annan wrote that he should be reimbursed for eight days that included six days "during my father's visit to Nigeria". A fax dated August 28, 1998, included the statement, "Your work and the contacts established at this meeting should ideally be followed up at the September 1998 UN General Assembly in New York." A September 1998 hotel bill for the Holiday Inn Garden Court in Durban was paid for by Cotecna, while he was registered as being there for the United Nations. He used a calling card paid for by Cotecna to call from a phone that begins 212-963-XXXX, the same beginning number for most phones in the United Nations in New York City.Hunt, Jonathan, et el, ["Documents Challenge Kojo Annan's Story"], Fox News (input from Associated Press), December 16, 2004. In September 1998, Kojo Annan met with several heads of state and government ministers during the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly. In December, Cotecna won a $4.8 million Oil for Food contract.Shawn, Eric, et al, ["How Close Was Kojo Annan to Oil-for-Food?"], Fox News (input from The New York Post), December 3, 2004. Kojo Annan, Kofi Annan and Cotecna deny that the younger Annan was involved in the Oil for Food contract. Annan also claimed that connections with Cotecna severed after 1998, however Kojo continued to be paid by the company until February 2004. On December 13, 2004, Kojo Annan claimed that the probe into the Oil for Food program by U.S. congressional committees was "a witchhunt from day one as part of a broader Republican political agenda.".Koinange, Jeff, ["Annan's son: Probe 'a witchhunt'"], CNN, December 13, 2004.
Personal life
Kojo Annan was educated in England at the independent school Rendcomb College, where he excelled as a Rugby playerMacAskill, Ewen, ["English public schoolboy turned businessman who 'disappointed' his father"], The Guardian, March 30, 2005, and subsequently at Keele University. He was also educated in Switzerland.References
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