UAE’s Nusseibeh enters UN chief race, vows problem-solving revival

The latest:

A prominent Middle Eastern candidate entered the contest for UN secretary-general on Wednesday, as Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, launched a late bid for the job. She told Reuters she wanted the world body to act on global crises rather than watch them, and said multiple countries had urged her to run during the last General Assembly.

Details:

• The candidate: Nusseibeh, 48, served as the UAE’s ambassador to the United Nations for more than a decade before becoming minister of state for foreign affairs. Reuters reported she previously led Abu Dhabi’s successful campaign for a Security Council seat, and that diplomats in New York regard her as a competent manager.
• The pitch: She told Reuters the organization needs a secretary-general who can recommit to multilateralism and act as a problem-solver rather than a spectator to the world’s crises. She argued the UN requires generational change, and described her method as creative entrepreneurial diplomacy.
• The field: An informal Security Council poll had placed former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan as the narrow frontrunner, sources told Reuters. But in last week’s straw poll, Grynspan and every other candidate drew two or more opposing votes from the five permanent members.
• The blockage: The decisive permanent members are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, and no declared candidate has cleared their combined opposition. Council members are negotiating whether to hold another poll on Friday or push it to a later stage, Reuters reported.
• Her UN record: Her tenure overlapped with the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023, when she secured adoption of Resolution 2720 opening the way for humanitarian aid deliveries. She said she built support by arranging a Security Council visit to the Rafah crossing to see conditions firsthand.
• The Sudan file: The UAE has faced criticism after UN sanctions monitors described as credible allegations that it supplied military support to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Abu Dhabi denies the allegations. Asked about the impact on her candidacy, Nusseibeh said she had taken leave from her UAE post and would focus on Sudan’s humanitarian crisis.
• The precedent: A victory would make Nusseibeh the second UN chief from the Middle East after Egypt’s Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and the first woman to lead the organization. She said she was not running on her gender, adding she comes from a country younger than the UN itself.
• Her framing: Nusseibeh said it would be good if the next secretary-general were a woman, but that her candidacy rests on what she called “stubborn optimism” about the UN’s future and a conviction that the post requires someone relentless in pursuing diplomacy.

Background:

The secretary-general is recommended by the Security Council and appointed by the General Assembly. Any of the five permanent members can block a candidate, which is why informal straw polls that register opposing votes effectively decide the outcome before a formal nomination reaches the wider membership.

Between the lines:

Nusseibeh enters precisely because the field is stuck: every candidate, including frontrunner Grynspan, collected two or more opposing permanent-member votes last week, leaving room for a late name no veto holder has yet rejected. Her Resolution 2720 record supplies a Security Council-tested credential, while the Sudan allegations against Abu Dhabi are the most visible liability a rival capital could raise against her.

What’s next

Watch whether Security Council members hold the next straw poll on Friday or delay it, and how many opposing permanent-member votes Nusseibeh draws in her first appearance on the ballot.