Otherupdated 1h ago4 min read
UAE Nominates Lana Zaki Nusseibeh for UN Secretary-General After Sheikh Mohamed Submits Letter
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
UAE nominates Lana Nusseibeh to be UN secretary-general. Nusseibeh serves as UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and ex-UN ambassador.
Save coverage image
A wider view of the story
Explore source coverage 6 source types
Directory totals describe our source library, not outlets checked for this story.
UAE nominates Nusseibeh
The United Arab Emirates formally nominated Minister of State Lana Zaki Nusseibeh as a candidate to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, with President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan submitting the nomination in a letter to the presidents of the UN General Assembly and Security Council. Sheikh Mohamed highlighted Nusseibeh’s experience at the United Nations, her judgement in addressing international challenges, and her record of constructive work, according to ARN News Centre. Nusseibeh served as the UAE’s Permanent Representative to the UN from 2013 to 2024, and she held senior roles including Vice-President of the General Assembly and President of the Executive Board of UN Women.
Nusseibeh also twice served as President of the UN Security Council during the UAE’s 2022-2023 term, and the Security Council has been considering candidates through informal straw polls with the latest held on October 16. The UN Charter framework in the nomination coverage stated that the Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly following a recommendation from the Security Council, and the successful candidate would lead the organisation from January 2027.
Vetoed straw polls
The United Arab Emirates nominated Lana Nusseibeh to run because none of the six existing candidates had emerged as a clear front-runner, and every contender received an effective veto in the latest informal straw poll held last week. The UN Security Council wielded veto power through five of its 15 members that can shut down any candidate that is unacceptable to them, and this happened Friday when all seven candidates received at least two vetoes. The straw poll process assigned each of the 15 Security Council members anonymously one of three labels: "encourage," "discourage," or "no opinion."
Nusseibeh entered the race on Wednesday and told Reuters she would seek to restore the world body’s role as a diplomatic problem-solver, quoting her: "It's clear that today we need a secretary-general that can recommit to the future of multilateralism". Rebeca Grynspan was placed as the narrow frontrunner in an informal Security Council poll, while all candidates received two or more opposing votes from the five permanent members. Nusseibeh’s candidacy joined a list of candidates after Wam reported she would be joining the list of candidates for the role leading the world body, and Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s second and final term will finish at the end of the year.
Nusseibeh said, "I am standing to be Secretary General because I believe this is a moment to act with greater urgency," and she warned that when the distance between what the UN promises and what it delivers grows, trust erodes. Nusseibeh, 48, was approached by multiple countries during the last UN General Assembly to put herself forward, and she said on the need for generational change: "It's recognized today that we need someone who offers generational change".
Nusseibeh’s UN tenure overlapped with the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023 when she secured the adoption of Resolution 2720 paving the way for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Vietnam.vn framed the stakes as a contest without consensus, noting that the successor to Guterres would have to tackle a severe budget crisis and the need to reform the system, while also describing the selection as shaped by vetoes from the five permanent members.
Race stakes and timing
The National said Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s second and final term will finish at the end of the year, and it described Nusseibeh’s candidacy as joining a list of candidates after Wam reported she would be joining the list of candidates for the role leading the world body. The National quoted Nusseibeh saying, "I am standing to be Secretary General because I believe this is a moment to act with greater urgency," and it also quoted her warning that when the distance between what the UN promises and what it delivers grows, trust erodes. Reuters said Nusseibeh, 48, was approached by multiple countries during the last UN General Assembly to put herself forward, and it quoted her on the need for generational change: "It's recognized today that we need someone who offers generational change".
Reuters also said Nusseibeh’s UN tenure overlapped with the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023 when she secured the adoption of Resolution 2720 paving the way for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Vietnam.vn framed the stakes as a contest without consensus, noting that the successor to Guterres would have to tackle a severe budget crisis and the need to reform the system, while also describing the selection as shaped by vetoes from the five permanent members.