Diplomat Lana Nusseibeh has entered the race to succeed António Guterres as the United Nations’ 10th secretary-general. If she succeeds, she will be the first woman, the first Muslim and the first person of Palestinian descent to be appointed UN secretary-general.
She sounds great, right?
Wrong.
Nusseibeh was, until earlier this month, minister of state in the Emirati foreign ministry, and spent much of the past decade as the United Arab Emirates’ permanent representative to the United Nations. In both positions, she has whitewashed the UAE’s involvement in the genocide in Sudan.
If the UN Security Council confirms Nusseibeh as the next secretary-general – and her chances are pretty high, given that all of the other candidates are believed to be opposed by the Trump administration – it will be making a monumental error of judgement, which could destroy the already weakened credibility of the UN for generations to come.
First, some background on what has been repeatedly described as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”.