Macky Sall withdraws from UN Secretary-General race

Former Senegalese President Macky Sall has withdrawn his candidacy for the place of United Nations secretary-general following opposition to his nomination and controversy over the African Union’s endorsement course of.

In a put up on X on Saturday, Mr Sall stated his determination adopted an off-the-cuff vote held on 16 October and consultations with Burundi’s President, Évariste Ndayishimiye, the present chairperson of the African Union (AU), and Senegalese President Bassirou Faye, the present chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

“Following the informal vote on October 16, 2026, for the election to the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations, and after consultations with His Excellency Mr. Evariste Ndayishimiye, President of the Republic of Burundi, current Chairperson of the African Union, and His Excellency Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, President of the Republic of Senegal, current Chairperson of ECOWAS, I have decided to withdraw my candidacy for said position,” he stated.

Mr Sall’s candidacy had confronted opposition over the process used to safe continental backing, with a number of nations, together with Nigeria, questioning the method and the circumstances surrounding his nomination.

Controversial AU endorsement

Mr Sall was first nominated by Burundi, whose president, Mr Ndayishimiye, assumed the rotating AU chairmanship on 14 February. The transfer raised questions on whether or not the nomination represented a nationwide initiative or a collective African endorsement.

AU procedures require candidacies to be submitted and reviewed by the Committee of Permanent Representatives and the Ministerial Committee earlier than being offered to the Executive Council for a choice by consensus or a two-thirds majority. The course of is designed to permit collective scrutiny and session amongst member states.

However, Mr Sall’s identify was absent from the checklist of African candidacies offered to the Executive Council on the February AU summit and was not formally mentioned by heads of state, based on a report by Jeune Afrique.

Burundi subsequently circulated a draft determination to UN and AU member states in an obvious try and safe formal continental endorsement for Mr Sall.

The draft determination set a 24-hour deadline for objections and required opposition from at the very least one-third of eligible member states to dam the proposed endorsement. Eligibility was restricted to nations that had met their AU monetary obligations and weren’t beneath suspension.

Twenty AU member states broke the silence, together with Algeria, South Africa, Liberia, Nigeria and Rwanda, based on the AU. Fourteen formally objected, whereas six, together with Egypt, requested an extension of the deadline.

Senegal additionally distanced itself from the method, saying it had not been related to Burundi’s initiative.

Egypt and Liberia later withdrew their positions, however the withdrawals didn’t change the result of the method.

The objections centred largely on procedural considerations. Several nations argued that the silence process was inappropriate for a substantive determination as a result of it provided little room for dialogue and imposed an unreasonably quick deadline.

The requirement for objections from one-third of eligible members additionally departed from established observe, beneath which a number of objections might be ample to forestall a choice from being adopted by means of silence.

Mr Sall’s candidacy was additionally rejected by Senegal, his house nation, amid persevering with disputes over his political legacy.

Nigeria opposed nomination over regional rotation

In April, PREMIUM TIMES reported that Nigeria had objected to the AU’s designation of Mr Sall because the bloc’s consensus candidate for the UN’s high job, describing the method as procedurally flawed and inconsistent with established diplomatic norms.

Nigeria’s objection centred on the long-standing precept of regional rotation within the appointment of the UN secretary-general.

Abuja argued that it was the flip of Latin America and the Caribbean to provide the following secretary-general. It additionally famous that the AU recognises the Caribbean as its sixth area.

Nigeria warned that continuing with Mr Sall’s candidacy may undermine Africa’s long-term standing and strategic pursuits throughout the multilateral system.

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“The Federal Republic of Nigeria sees no rationale in violating the time-honoured principle of continental rotation in the appointment of the United Nations Secretary-General,” a Nigerian diplomatic notice said on the time.

“By jettisoning this established practice, the African Union is putting its position and interest in jeopardy now and in the future,” it added.

Nigeria additionally complained that it had been caught off guard by the pace of the choice and the restricted time given to member states to evaluate the nomination.

Abuja additional faulted the method for failing to topic Mr Sall’s candidacy to scrutiny by the AU’s Ministerial Candidature Committee, which is answerable for vetting high-profile nominations.

Race to succeed Guterres

The place of UN secretary-general will turn into vacant on the finish of António Guterres’ present time period in December 2026.

The number of his successor has attracted worldwide consideration, with regional backing seen as an necessary diplomatic benefit for candidates.

Although the place has historically adopted a regional rotation association, Mr Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, was elected in 2016 when Eastern Europe was extensively anticipated to have its flip. Latin America and the Caribbean are subsequent in line beneath the casual rotation conference, though the method isn’t a binding rule.