First woman to lead the U.N.? UAE nominates Lana Nusseibeh
The UAE's former U.N. ambassador is seeking to succeed António Guterres. Six straw polls in the Security Council have so far failed to produce agreement.
Archive image · Photo: Jennifer Jacquemart / European Union / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The United Arab Emirates has nominated Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh as a candidate for U.N. secretary-general. President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan submitted her candidacy on Wednesday to the presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council, the state news agency WAM reported. Nusseibeh was her country's U.N. ambassador from 2013 to 2024 and represented it on the Security Council in 2022-23.
If chosen, she would be the first woman to lead the United Nations and only the second person from the Arab world, after Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Nusseibeh said she would serve by "speaking frankly with every government and answering to none." Her priorities include earlier diplomacy to prevent crises and leaner U.N. structures.
The nomination comes in a deadlocked race: six informal straw polls in the Security Council, the latest on Oct. 16, have produced no agreement. Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan is seen as the front-runner, according to The National. António Guterres' term ends on Dec. 31. According to The Media Line, her bid could draw scrutiny of allegations that the UAE backed the paramilitary RSF in Sudan's war; Abu Dhabi denies giving military support to either side.