Ugandan diplomat joins race for top UN post

.

Logo of the United Nations seen on a building of the global organisation.PHOTO: AFP

UNNAO, INDIA:

Veteran Ugandan diplomat Olara Otunnu has entered the race to become the next United Nations secretary-general, becoming the seventh candidate seeking to succeed Antonio Guterres when his second five-year term ends later this year.

Uganda formally nominated Otunnu in a letter sent on Friday to the presidents of the UN General Assembly and Security Council. Otunnu, 75, is a former UN under-secretary-general and served as the organisation's special representative for children and armed conflict. He is the oldest candidate in the contest.

In his vision statement, Otunnu pledged to continue institutional reforms and said his immediate priority would be efforts to help end major international conflicts. He also proposed establishing a body to oversee the UN's work on artificial intelligence and stressed the need to tackle climate change without undermining economic development.

Otunnu joins a field that includes Rafael Grossi of Argentina, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency; former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet; former Costa Rican vice president Rebeca Grynspan; former Ecuadorian foreign and defence minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa; former Guyanese foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; and former Senegalese president Macky Sall.

The selection process is expected to gather pace this week, with the 15-member Security Council due to begin informal straw polls aimed at narrowing the field. Additional candidates may still enter the race.

Diplomats say there is no clear frontrunner, although many believe it is Latin America's turn to produce the next UN chief, while there is also support for appointing the organisation's first woman secretary-general.

Experts say the eventual winner will need to avoid a veto from any of the Security Council's five permanent members, particularly China, Russia or the United States.