Kofi Annan to speak at Truman site

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- Kofi Annan will give his last major speech as the U.N. secretary-general at the Truman Presidential Museum & Library, the museum announced Wednesday.

Annan chose the location to recognize Harry Truman, who helped found the United Nations during the closing days of World War II.

Annan will deliver the speech, titled "Global Governance and the Role of the United States," at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 11, the museum said. His second five-year term expires Jan. 1. South Korea's foreign minister Ban Ki-moon has been picked as Annan's successor.

"Annan's parting message to the world, and particularly to the American people, is one of accountability and responsibility," the museum said in a news release. "Recalling Truman's leadership in the founding of the U.N., the secretary-general will lay out principles of global governance for the 21st century and argue that America's founding principle of accountability of governors to the governed must apply also to those who exercise power in today's world."

Annan is expected to stress that the United States has special responsibilities because of its power.

"It must have the wisdom, and the humility, to exercise these responsibilities through a multilateral system in which power is shared and States are accountable to each other for their conduct," the museum said.

Annan, 68, of Ghana, was a member of the U.N. staff when he was elevated to the position of the seventh secretary-general.

He shared the 2001 Peace Prize with the U.N., but his second term has produced a myriad of problems -- sex abuse by U.N. peacekeepers in Africa, staff dissatisfaction over management and security decisions and the resignation of the top U.N. refugee official amid sexual harassment complaints.

An 18-month investigation cleared the U.N. chief of influencing an oil-for-food contract that went to a company that employed his son, Kojo, but was strongly criticized for his management of the $64 billion program.

Amid intense scrutiny, Annan vowed to spend his last year in the position focused on fighting poverty and disease, promoting peace and security, and reforming the institution.