UN Secretary-General Candidates Rise to 7 as Uganda Nominates Otunnu
Five Candidates from Latin America, Two from Africa Declare Their Bids
The government of Uganda has officially nominated former Foreign Minister Olara Otunnu (75) as its candidate for the next United Nations Secretary-General. With this, the number of officially nominated candidates for the next UN Secretary-General, recommended by their respective governments, has now increased to seven.
According to AFP and Ugandan media outlet The Independent, on the 27th (local time), Uganda's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a statement the previous day that former Minister Otunnu has been formally recommended as a candidate for UN Secretary-General.
The Ugandan government described former Minister Otunnu as an international diplomatic expert with more than 40 years of experience in diplomacy, peacebuilding, and international governance.
During the tenure of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Otunnu served as UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict from 1997 to 2005.
In 2005, during his tenure, the 'Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism' (MRM) was launched under UN Security Council Resolution 1612 to monitor and report serious violations of children's rights. The Ugandan government explained that the MRM has since become a core framework supporting child protection activities in conflict zones globally.
Before joining the UN Secretariat, Otunnu served as Uganda’s Ambassador to the United Nations from 1980 to 1985, and as Uganda’s Foreign Minister from 1985 to 1986.
In 2011, he ran for president as an opposition candidate from the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), but was defeated by President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.
With Otunnu’s nomination, there are now a total of seven officially recommended candidates for the position of UN Secretary-General—five from Latin America and the Caribbean, and two from Africa. There are also four women among the candidates, attracting attention to whether the UN will see its first-ever female Secretary-General in history.
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The current candidates include former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet (74), former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa (61), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi (65) from Argentina, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan (70) from Costa Rica, Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett (52), and former Senegalese President Macky Sall (64).
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