Photo taken on Aug. 22, 2018 shows the Memory Table created for the condolence book in honor of late former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the Accra International Conference Center (AICC) in Accra, captial of Ghana. Annan died on Aug. 18 in Switzerland, at the age of 80. (Xinhua/Francis Kokoroko)
by Justice Lee Adoboe
ACCRA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Ghana is to honor late UN secretary-general Kofi Annan with full state burial, President Nana Akufo-Addo announced on Friday.
In a discussion with Annan's family, Akufo-Addo proposed September 13 for the burial and funeral rites.
The global peace icon died last Saturday at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland, after a short illness, family sources had said.
The president also added that the body of Annan would be interred at a new military cemetery at the Burma Camp, with the state financing every cost.
"This is a state funeral so the responsibility for the arrangements is for the Ghanaian state. Your bit is to mourn, but you will not have any of the financial burdens involved in organizing such a thing; that will be borne by the state of Ghana," the president assured the bereaved family.
The family had also announced on Thursday that there would be two separate ceremonies in New York and Geneva in honor of the former UN secretary-general.