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US University Awards Honorary Degree to Annan
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Secretary-General Kofi Annan awarded honorary Doctorate of Humane
Letters during Georgetown University ceremony Georgetown University in
Washington has awarded an honorary degree to U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan.

A packed audience of more than 300 students, professors, community
members and African dignitaries awaited U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan at Georgetown University Monday evening. The university honored
Mr. Annan with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. After the
ceremony, he delivered the 2006 Oliver Tambo lecture.







Kofi Annan center, is awarded honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree
by Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia, right, and
university provost James J. O'Donnell, Monday, Oct. 30, 2006University
President John DeGiogia said the speech was fitting for the
secretary-general who was the first to rise from the ranks of
international civil servants.

"I believe this is one of the secretary-general's most lasting
legacies - protection of human rights must never stop at any border's
edge," he said. "If we value our own human worth, then we have an
obligation to value and protect the dignity and rights of our fellow
men in all parts of the world."

The lecture is named after South African politician and former African
National Congress president Oliver Tambo. In his speech, Mr. Annan
recalled Tambo's struggle to end apartheid in South Africa.

"Were he alive today, I know he would speak equally forcefully for all
of us to join hand to break the barriers that separate Africa from
global prosperity," Annan said.

Mr. Annan cautioned that Africa continues to face several barriers to
greater prosperity, including underdevelopment and internal conflict.
But he stressed that democratic governments in Africa are making
progress in these areas.

"I often say that no one invests in a bad neighborhood," he noted.
"And when the continent is seen by many as a continent at war, we do
scare them away, and Africans have realized that and are doing
whatever they can to settle these conflicts so that they can focus on
the essential task of economic and social development."

When asked whether Africa would see a union of nations much like the
European Union, Mr. Annan smiled and said perhaps one day, but likely
not in his lifetime.


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