The Millennium Excellence Foundation, one of Africa's leading non-profit organizations founded by Amb. Ashim Morton with its Patron His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, recognized the Distinguishing Laureate Kofi Annan for his passion for protecting the rights of the less privileged and Democracy.

Kofi Annan advocated for Global Peace without fear or favor. At a point in 2004-2005, the global powers of the world sought to remove him from office because of his position he took against the illegal invasion of Iraq.

The declaration of the United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, on the Iraq war was shocking in its simplicity. He described it for the first time as "illegal".

No caveats. No equivocation. None of the ambiguity loved by diplomats, especially at UN headquarters. The shock is in part because Annan is an inherently cautious individual. He has long professed that his role is basically that of a civil servant carrying out the decisions of the UN security council. But he has finally made his stand, angered by the damage the war has done to Iraq, to the international community and to the UN

However, it is understandable that people should concentrate on his strong implied rebuke for the neoconservativue-inspired security doctrine now espoused by the United States, and implicitly supported by Tony Blair. Saying the world had “come to a fork in the road,” to what “may be a moment no less decisive than 1945 itself, when the United Nations was founded,” Kofi Annan spelled out explicitly and in the most public way possible the position he has voiced before, albeit more quietly in off-the-cuff question and answer sessions: the invasion of Iraq was against the UN Charter, and thus in breach of International Law.



Today, we stand at the cross roads to mourn a true patriot of peace and humanity. Amb Ashim Morton calls for day of remembrance and mourning. I believe strongly that Dr. Kofi Annan should be immortalized with a holiday named Kofi Annan Peace Day

Already the Millennium Excellence Foundation has begun plans to build a monument in his name at a