Kofi Annan dies - A final service

When a figure as significant as Kofi Annan dies — as the former UN secretary general aged 80 did in Switzerland on Saturday — diplomatic etiquette decrees a pretty standard statement of respect and recognition from world leaders.

Most are by necessity predictable, many are bland and non-committal.

This weekend, however, German chancellor Anglea Merkel, honouring Mr Annan’s UN leadership between 1997 and 2006, described the Ghanian as an “exceptional statesman in the service of the global community”.

At a moment when so many of the old, mutually-beneficial alliances are questioned, as never before, Ms Merkel’s

reference to the “global community” may be significant.

The UN was set up in 1945, like the later European Union, to try to avert a new world-scale catastrophe. Mr Annan’s last service to the world might be, by his death, forcing those who have forgotten this, or never knew it, to pause for thought.

At a moment when President Trump, who has shown he does not understand how the UN works, this seems even more important.