The Government of Uganda has nominated and submitted the candidature of Ambassador Olara Otunnu for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The nomination was announced by Bagiire Vincent Waiswa, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the term of the current UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, comes to an end on December 31, 2026.
Ambassador Otunnu, a distinguished Ugandan statesman and international civil servant, brings more than four decades of experience in international diplomacy, national government, academia and grassroots peacebuilding.
Within the United Nations system, Ambassador Otunnu served as Under-Secretary-General and the first Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict from 1998 to 2005. During his tenure, he elevated the protection of children affected by war on the international agenda and designed the landmark compliance and monitoring regime adopted under UN Security Council Resolution 1612 in 2005, which remains operational to date.
He also served as Uganda’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1980 to 1985 and as President of the UN Security Council in 1981. During his tenure, he introduced the straw ballot system for electing the Secretary-General, a procedure that has since become known as the “Otunnu Formula” and has guided every such election.
At the national level, Ambassador Otunnu served as Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1986 and as a member of the Uganda National Consultative Council during the country’s transitional period following the fall of the Idi Amin regime.
In recent years, he has co-led Roco Paco, a community-based peacebuilding initiative alongside former Chief Justice Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny-Dollo, dedicated to healing and rebuilding communities in northern Uganda following more than two decades of conflict.
Ambassador Otunnu has also held senior academic positions, including serving as President of the International Peace Academy, now the International Peace Institute, from 1990 to 1998. He has held academic positions at Albany Law School, the American University of Paris and the Institut Français des Relations Internationales.
He holds a Bachelor of Jurisprudence degree from Oxford University and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School. He is fluent in English, French and Luo.
His contributions to international peace and human rights have earned him several prestigious awards, including the German Africa Prize in 2002, the Sydney Peace Prize in 2005 and the Harvard Law School Alumni Association Award in 2007.
The Government of Uganda said Ambassador Otunnu’s extensive experience across the UN Secretariat, the Security Council, national government, academia and grassroots peacebuilding makes him exceptionally well-suited to lead the United Nations at a critical juncture in global affairs.
It has called on UN member states to give Ambassador Otunnu’s candidature their utmost support.
