I had my first meeting with Kofi Annan when he was the United Nations undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations. We spoke at length about the U.N. forces in our region, from the pathetic group of U.N. observers tasked with monitoring the Green Line in Jerusalem to the U.N. forces stationed in Syria and Lebanon. He was knowledgeable and always smiling, and agreed with me on many subjects, including with regard to the excessive red tape and conservatism at the U.N. On some issues, he promised to try to bring change. On others, he suggested I give up. At the end of our conversation, he told me he loved Israel and had admired the country ever since it provided agricultural assistance to his homeland, Ghana, when it first gained independence. While escorting me out, Annan said a great weight had been lifted from his heart when, three years earlier, the U.N. General Assembly rescinded its absurd resolution equating Zionism with racism. After that initial meeting, we would go on to meet dozens of times.
When he was appointed U.N. secretary general, Annan told me finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be a high priority. He often spoke of the suffering endured by both peoples, which, despite all the difficulty and violence, he believed would be brought to an end by the Oslo peace process.
He felt great disappointment when the Camp David talks, held in July 2000, failed. He told me he found it hard to believe that 15 days of talks between then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Ehud Barak could end with no achievements to speak of. When we finalized the work on the Geneva Initiative at the end of 2003, he invited us to New York. We were a small group of Israelis and Palestinians.
After meeting with then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, we were informed that all flights out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport had been canceled as a result of the heavy snowfall. We boarded the crowded train from Washington to New York, and from there, a car took us from the West Side of the city to the East Side at a snail's pace. It had gotten very late by this point, and we worried Annan would not wait up for us, but his office informed us he was indeed waiting and asked us to hurry, if possible. We finally made it to U.N. headquarters two and a half hours late for our scheduled meeting. We couldn't even find the words to apologize. But Annan was there, smiling as always. He told us that for peacemakers, he would have been willing to wait even longer.
At a meeting on the eve of his resignation, Annan told me he intended to establish a system that would focus entirely on Africa, and told me, half in jest, to be in touch once I retired from politics. I went to him two years later. He laid his Africa doctrine out before me and said, to my surprise, that the central problem plaguing the continent was the death of babies from malaria. He succeeded in his efforts, and with the help of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was able to drastically reduce the number of deaths from this disease.
When I told him how many times my hopes for Africa had been met with disappointment, he became visibly upset. He wholeheartedly believed that Africa would be the next big thing and told me he saw it as his own personal mission to convince me of the righteousness of his faith. On Saturday, Annan passed on from this world before he could achieve his life's mission.
