International human rights groups and Sudanese activists have criticized the candidacy of an Emirati diplomat for the position of UN secretary-general over her denial of the UAE's role in the genocide in Sudan.
The candidacy of Lana Nusseibeh, a senior UAE diplomat, for the position of United Nations secretary-general has sparked backlash from numerous human rights monitors and Sudanese activists, as the diplomat has denied her country's role in supporting the war in Sudan.
Nusseibeh, nominated last week, has repeatedly denied that the UAE provides military support to the so-called Rapid Support Forces (RSF), despite credible reports and evidence to the contrary.
Sudan's war, which erupted in April 2023 following tensions between the UAE-backed RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), has displaced more than 14 million people and created a humanitarian crisis across the country.
The Emirati diplomat is one of seven candidates nominated to replace António Guterres, whose second five-year term ends this year.
As the head of an international body, the UN secretary-general is expected to act independently of national governments and in accordance with the UN Charter.
Co-director of the British NGO Protection Approaches Kate Ferguson raised concerns over her candidacy. "There is not, as far as I have seen, sufficient evidence that this candidate is independent from the state from which she comes," he said at a virtual briefing by the Avaaz human rights advocacy group on Tuesday, The Guardian reported.
The Sudanese pro-democracy and women’s rights activist Hala al-Karib, the regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, said there is no evidence supporting Nusseibeh is independent from her home country adding that endorsement by the security council would simply be a “denial of the genocidal acts committed in El Fasher by the RSF.”
In February, the UN reported that the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan had found evidence establishing that at least three underlying acts of genocide had been committed by the RSF in and around El Fasher. The mission said the attack on the city in October last year bore the "hallmarks of genocide."
"The scale, coordination, and public endorsement of the operation by senior RSF leadership demonstrate that the crimes committed in and around El Fasher were not random excesses of war… They formed part of a planned and organized operation that bears the defining characteristics of genocide," said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the mission, in February.
In another report released in September, the Fact-Finding Mission found that transnational networks operating across several countries, including the UAE, had helped supply the RSF with weapons, logistics, training and personnel. The mission documented the deployment of up to 2,000 former Colombian military contractors who operated alongside the RSF.
"Her disinformation about the UAE's rights record, particularly her dismissal of the UN's own reports documenting the UAE's links to the RSF, has seriously undermined justice and accountability for the victims," said Bruno Stagno Ugarte, chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch.
Addressing the same briefing, Kenneth Roth, a former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said that Nusseibeh lacked the needed characteristics for UN chief seat.
“It’s fair to say the RSF would not have been able to be nearly as successful militarily as it was and has been without that support from the UAE. And with that support, it didn’t just fight the Sudan armed forces. This wasn’t just a civil war. It committed mass atrocities,” Roth said.
“It amazes me that she’s being put forward. This is a completely unsuitable candidate,” he added.
To be appointed UN secretary-general, a candidate must secure at least nine affirmative votes from the 15 members of the Security Council and avoid a veto from the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France and Russia.
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