The Government of Uganda has officially nominated Ambassador Olara Otunnu for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The government said it has submitted Ambassador Otunnu’s candidature and described him as a distinguished Ugandan statesman and international civil servant with more than four decades of experience in international diplomacy.

According to the release, Ambassador Otunnu served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the first Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict from 1998 to 2005. The ministry said he helped place the protection of children affected by war on the agenda of the UN Security Council and designed the compliance and monitoring regime adopted under Security Council Resolution 1612 in 2005.

The release also highlighted his earlier role as Uganda’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1980 to 1985. During his tenure, he served as President of the UN Security Council in December 1981 and introduced the straw-balloting procedure for the election of the UN Secretary-General, a process referred to in the release as the “Otunnu Formula.”

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 transitional period following the fall of the Idi Amin regime.

The ministry further noted that he served as President of the International Peace Academy, now known as the International Peace Institute, from 1990 to 1998. He has also held academic positions at Albany Law School, the American University in Paris and the Institut Français des Relations Internationales.

Otunnu has received several international awards, including the Sydney Peace Prize in 2005, the German Africa Prize in 2002 and the Harvard Law School Alumni Association Award in 2007.

In recent years, he has co-led the Roco Paco peacebuilding initiative with Chief Justice Emeritus Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny-Dollo, focusing on healing and rebuilding communities in northern Uganda after more than two decades of conflict.

Otunnu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Jurisprudence from Oxford University and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. The release said he is fluent in English, French and Luo.

Otunnu also led the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) from 2010 to 2015 and contested in the 2011 presidential election as the party's candidate.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government is confident that Otunnu’s experience across the UN Secretariat, the Security Council, national government, academia and grassroots peacebuilding makes him well suited to lead the United Nations.

The term of the current UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, ends on December 31, 2026. Uganda has called on UN member states to support Ambassador Otunnu’s candidature.