Ex-African Union Chairman Macky Sall Withdraws from United Nations Race
Former African Union (AU) chairman president of Senegal Macky Sall on Saturday withdrew from the seven person race to be the next UN secretary general, a day after an informal UN Security Council poll produced no clear favourite.
In a statement issued from Marrakech, Morocco, on October 17, the former president of Senegal Sall said he reached the decision after consultations with Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye, Chairperson of the African Union, and Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
The former Senegalese leader acknowledged that the voting process had increasingly favoured candidates from Latin America and the Caribbean, making his continued participation difficult to justify.
“Since the beginning of the process, the results of the various votes have indicated a preference for a candidacy from the Latin America and Caribbean group,” Sall said, adding that he respected that choice.
The admission provided a candid explanation for his withdrawal from a contest in which regional considerations, diplomatic alliances and the positions of the Security Council’s permanent members carry considerable weight.
Sall, who served as Senegal’s president from 2012 to 2024 and chaired the African Union in 2022, said his ambition had been to place his experience at the service of the international community.
A UN diplomat said Friday that all seven hopefuls had received a vote of "discourage," effectively a veto, from a permanent UN Security Council member in anonymous informal polling.
Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan -- who has been among the frontrunners in five previous polls -- received the most "encourage" votes, but also got five "discourage" votes, including two from permanent members of the 15-country council.
US media reports suggest Washington opposes all seven contenders.
Among those considered by diplomats to be potential entrants are Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed "Board of Peace," and the UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs Lana Nusseibeh.
Turkey's Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu, secretary general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), has also had his name floated.
The other candidates are Guyanese ex-foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Argentina's Rafael Grossi, who heads the UN nuclear watchdog, Ecuador's Ivonne A-Baki and Maria Fernanda Espinosa and Uganda's Olara Otunnu.
The outgoing secretary-general, Antonio Guterres of Portugal, ends his second five-year term on December 31.
Even if a candidate earns the required nine votes from the 15 in the Security Council, they must also avoid a veto by the five major powers, which are deeply divided.