{"id":90327,"date":"2026-07-27T14:24:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T14:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:40:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:40:42","slug":"ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race","title":{"rendered":"Ugandan Diplomat Enters UN Chief Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Liberia. <\/strong> <\/span>A Ugandan diplomat, Olara Otunnu, has entered the race to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, making him the seventh candidate to succeed Anto\u0301nio Guterres when he steps down at the end of this year.<\/p>\n<p>Uganda has nominated Otunnu, a former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, in a letter addressed to the Presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council.<\/p>\n<p>At 75 years old, Otunnu is the oldest candidate for the position, which Guterres has held for two consecutive five-year terms. The successor to Guterres will face the challenge of revitalizing an organization that is experiencing a crisis and a decline in its standing, while also facing increasing pressure to reform its bloated and costly bureaucracy and reduce duplication among its many agencies.<\/p>\n<p>In his vision statement, Otunnu emphasized the need to continue institutional reforms and stated that he would prioritize efforts to help end major international conflicts. He also pledged to work on establishing a body to oversee the UN&#8217;s work in the field of artificial intelligence and highlighted the need for climate action that does not undermine economic development.<\/p>\n<p>Other candidates include: Rafael Grossi from Argentina, Director-General of the UN&#8217;s International Atomic Energy Agency; former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet; Rebecca Greenspan, former Vice President of Costa Rica; Mari\u0301a Fernanda Espinosa, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Ecuador; Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, former Foreign Minister of Guyana; and Macky Sall, former President of Senegal.<\/p>\n<p>The selection process is expected to officially begin this week with informal polling in the 15-member Security Council, aimed at narrowing down the candidates, and other candidates may still join the race.<\/p>\n<p>Diplomats say there is no standout candidate, although there is widespread sentiment that it is Latin America&#8217;s turn to lead the UN, and there is support for a woman to hold the position for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Experts say the key to success lies in avoiding the use of the veto by any of the five permanent members of the Security Council, particularly China, Russia, or the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Liberia<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Liberia. A Ugandan diplomat, Olara Otunnu, has entered the race to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, making him the seventh candidate to succeed Anto\u0301nio Guterres when he steps down at the end of this year. Uganda has nominated Otunnu, a former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":90326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-90327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ugandan Diplomat Enters UN Chief Race - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Ugandan diplomat, Olara Otunnu, has entered the race to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ugandan Diplomat Enters UN Chief Race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Ugandan diplomat, Olara Otunnu, has entered the race to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-27T14:24:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-29T00:40:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2026\/07\/sm_1785282667.456461.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ugandan Diplomat Enters UN Chief Race\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-27T14:24:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-29T00:40:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race\"},\"wordCount\":369,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2026\/07\/sm_1785282667.456461.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Liberia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/ugandan-diplomat-enters-un-chief-race\",\"name\":\"Ugandan Diplomat Enters UN Chief Race - 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