Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general, dead at 80 Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has died at the age of 80. He was a diplomat from Ghana who became the first black African to lead the United Nations. Annan and the U.N. were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. But the U.N. faced major failures during his tenure, including the Rwanda genocide in 1994.