Burundi Nominates Former Senegalese President Sall for UN Chief

A new secretary-general of the United Nations will be appointed on 1 January, 2027 to succeed Antonio Guterres, with three current nominations on the table - former Senegalese president Macky Sall, plus former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Argentine Rafael Grossi.

The selection process was launched last November, with each candidate to be formally nominated by a state or group of states, not necessarily by their country of origin. The Security Council must begin the selection process by the end of July.

UN General Assembly spokeswoman La Neice Collins confirmed Burundi's nomination of Sall on Monday.

Burundi currently chairs the African Union (AU), and a source close to Sall told French news agency AFP that during Sall's time as president of the AU, from February 2022 to February 2023, his priority "was to carry Africa's voice within international bodies".

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Other candidates

The current composition of the Council could be favourable to Sall, as three African members are sitting on it this year - the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Somalia.

While the entire Security Council will elect the next secretary-general, its five permanent members - France, the United Kingdom, China, the United States, and Russia - will ultimate be the deciders, as they have power of veto.

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Two other candidates have been formally nominated: former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi, who currently heads the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Costa Rica has also put forward its former vice president Rebeca Grynspan, but her letter of candidacy has not yet been officially submitted to the UN.

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Controversy in Senegal

Sall led the West African nation from 2012 to 2024. The current government accuses him of covering up unfavourable economic data and concealing the true extent of the country's fiscal problems.

Senegal charged four former government ministers from Sall's cabinet with corruption and embezzlement related to the management of Covid-19 funds - under a wider anti-corruption campaign by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

(with newswires, and partially adapted from this report in French.)

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