Kampala – Uganda has officially nominated veteran diplomat and former United Nations Under-Secretary-General Ambassador Olara Otunnu for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government said Ambassador Otunnu’s candidature has been formally submitted, describing him as a distinguished statesman with more than four decades of service in international diplomacy, government, academia and civil society.
Otunnu previously served as the UN Under-Secretary-General and the first Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict between 1998 and 2005. During his tenure, he successfully pushed for the protection of children affected by war to become a priority on the UN Security Council’s agenda and helped establish the monitoring and compliance mechanism under Security Council Resolution 1612, which remains in force.
The government also highlighted his earlier service as Uganda’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1980 to 1985. While serving as President of the UN Security Council in December 1981, he introduced the straw-ballot voting system for electing the UN Secretary-General, a process that later became known as the “Otunnu Formula” and continues to guide the selection process.
At the national level, Otunnu served as Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1986 and was a member of the Uganda National Consultative Council during the country’s transition following the fall of the Idi Amin regime.
Beyond government service, he led the International Peace Academy, now the International Peace Institute, between 1990 and 1998 and has held academic appointments at Albany Law School, the American University in Paris and the Institut Français des Relations Internationales.
The Ministry also noted that Otunnu has received several international honours, including the Sydney Peace Prize, the German Africa Prize and the Harvard Law School Alumni Association Award. In recent years, he has co-led the Roco Paco peacebuilding initiative alongside Chief Justice Emeritus Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny-Dollo to support reconciliation and recovery in northern Uganda.
According to the government, Otunnu’s experience across the UN system, national government, academia and grassroots peacebuilding makes him well suited to lead the organisation at a time of growing global challenges.
The term of the current UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, ends on 31 December 2026. Uganda has called on UN Member States to support Ambassador Otunnu’s candidature.
