Annan looking forward to retirement

After serving as the United Nations top-ranking official, Secretary General Kofi Annan says he’s looking forward to a long vacation.

“There is a very long holiday in my future for my wife and myself,” said a smiling Annan, 68, at a news conference on Wednesday at the United Nations conference on climate change. “I think we deserve it.”

Annan, who is from Ghana, quickly dismissed suggestions that he might consider entering politics in his home country.

“So I’ll take a long break and then try and organize a life that will give me a balance between reflection and action, and I don’t think being president of Ghana will give me that kind of life.”

Annan, who began his first term in 1997, is nearing the end of his mandate and will be replaced by Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon in January.

But he said he would like to work with African governments on issues such as agricultural productivity and food security when he leaves the UN office.

“It is really tragic that as a continent that we cannot feed ourselves,” he said. “We have not gone through a green revolution and I hope that we will do that in the coming years.”

He noted that there are fewer wars in the world when he first took office, but added that there is still much work to be done to create a more peaceful world.