Olara Otunnu, a former Ugandan foreign minister and ex-UN under-secretary-general, has entered the race to succeed António Guterres as UN secretary-general, becoming the seventh candidate in the contest. Nominated by Uganda, the 75-year-old is the oldest hopeful in the field.
Otunnu served as special representative for children and armed conflict from 1997 to 2005 under then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He also ran unsuccessfully for Uganda's presidency in 2011, losing to Yoweri Museveni.
He joins six other contenders: Chile's Michelle Bachelet, Ecuador's Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Argentina's Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan, Guyana's Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and Senegal's Macky Sall. The other six candidates participated in a televised debate on Thursday.
The UN Security Council's 15 member states will hold their first closed-door straw poll on July 30. The new secretary-general is set to take office on January 1, 2027.