Sudanupdated 1h ago2 min read
Sudanese Diaspora, Rights Monitors Denounce UAE Nominee Lana Nusseibeh for UN Secretary-General
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Sudanese diaspora and rights monitors denounce Lana Nusseibeh’s bid for UN chief. Critics say she defends UAE foreign policy and denies UAE funding of the Sudan conflict.
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UAE nominee faces Sudan test
Human rights monitors and members of the Sudanese diaspora denounced the UAE nomination of Lana Nusseibeh for the UN secretary-general role, citing her denial of accusations that the United Arab Emirates is fuelling the war in Sudan by supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The Guardian said the UN described an October 2025 attack on El Fasher as having “hallmarks of genocide,” and it reported that Nusseibeh has repeatedly reflected the UAE’s blanket denials of those accusations.
Hala al-Karib, the regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, told the Guardian that Nusseibeh had “no track record of acting independently of her country’s role in Sudan” and that security council endorsement would amount “essentially [to] a denial of the genocidal acts committed in El Fasher by the RSF”. Kenneth Roth, a former executive director of Human Rights Watch, told a briefing that Nusseibeh “blatantly denies” the UAE’s role in arming and supporting the RSF “without regard to the facts.”
Webinar and pressure campaign
Avaaz organized a webinar where Kenneth Roth said Nusseibeh “just blatantly denies it without regard to the facts,” and the Reuters report tied that criticism to the UAE diplomat’s role in championing the country’s foreign policy. Husam Mahjoub, a Sudanese advocate and founder of independent media Sudan Bukra TV, told the same webinar that “Electing (the UAE's) senior diplomat as Secretary-General would hand leadership of (United Nations) institutions to that government’s chief defender.”
Nusseibeh told Reuters that, if she became secretary-general, “Sudan would be a number one priority,” and she said the “atrocities committed by the RSF are atrocious.” Nusseibeh also told the UN media after a General Assembly dialogue that she would work to be a “risk-taker” and “prime mover in mediation efforts,” while Human Rights Watch’s Bruno Stagno Ugarte said her “disinformation” about the UAE’s links to the RSF had “seriously undermined justice and accountability for the victims.”
Security Council math and stakes
The selection rules described by The Guardian required a candidate to secure a minimum of nine affirmative votes out of the 15 security council members and avoid a veto from the US, the UK, China, France or Russia. Reuters reported that the next straw poll could take place as soon as Friday while diplomats negotiated the format and exact timing, and it said the gridlocked race had been upended by Nusseibeh’s late entry.
The Guardian said an informal security council poll earlier in the month had placed Rebeca Grynspan as the narrow frontrunner, but it reported that she and all other candidates received two or more opposing votes from the permanent council members. Reuters warned that whoever wins would have to tackle multiple crises including “several wars,” and it framed Sudan’s conflict as a driver of displacement, saying it had displaced more than 14 million people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.