Kofi Annan, Diplomat who brokered peace deal between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga is dead.

Kofi Annan is dead.The late Annan, one of the world's most celebrated diplomats and a charismatic symbol of the United Nations,  rose through its ranks to become the first black African secretary-general. He was 80.His foundation announced his death in Switzerland's capital, Bern, on Saturday in a tweet , saying he died after a short unspecified illness. It remembered the Nobel Peace Prize winner as "radiating genuine kindness, warmth and brilliance in all he did."During his tenure as UN Secretary General,  Annan presided over some of the worst failures and scandals at the world body, one of its most turbulent periods since its founding in 1945. Challenges from the outset forced him to spend much of his time struggling to restore its tarnished reputation.His enduring moral prestige remained largely undented, however, both through charisma and by virtue of having negotiated with most of the powers in the world.When he departed from the United Nations, he left behind a global organization far more aggressively engaged in peacekeeping and fighting poverty, setting the framework for the U.N.'s 21st-century response to mass atrocities and its emphasis on human rights and development.Despite his well-honed diplomatic skills, Annan was never afraid to speak candidly. That didn't always win him fans, particularly in the case of Bush's administration, with whom Annan's camp spent much time bickering. Much of his second term was spent at odds with the United States, the U.N.'s biggest contributor, as he tried to lean on the nation to pay almost $2 billion in arrears.Annan will be remembered by Kenyans for brokering a power sharing deal between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki in 2008, after weeks of fighting following a disputed presidential election. Without this deal, Kenya was almost on the verge of deteriorating into a war zone.