4/8/2026
President Museveni on Monday stepped up Uganda’s campaign for Ambassador Olara Otunnu to become the next United Nations secretary-general, urging representatives of U.N. Security Council member states to back the veteran diplomat days after he finished last in the first informal straw poll for the post.
The meeting at State House Entebbe came as Uganda seeks to revive Otunnu’s candidacy ahead of further rounds of confidential Security Council voting, which will determine the candidate recommended to the U.N. General Assembly to succeed António Guterres when his second and final term ends this year.
Presenting Otunnu to diplomats, Museveni described him as an accomplished statesman whose decades within the U.N. system made him well suited to lead the organisation at a time of growing global instability.
He is really the type of person you will need in the UN system because he is very much aligned to it. I therefore hand over Olara Otunnu to you,” Museveni said.
Museveni said he had known Otunnu since their days at Makerere University, where he served as Guild President, and praised his diplomatic experience and command of international languages.
He speaks English and French very well without a tribal accent, so I hand Ambassador Olara Otunnu to you so that he can brief you himself,” he said.
The president argued that Uganda’s strongest credentials at the United Nations were its contribution to regional peace and security and its long-standing refugee policy.
