UNITED NATIONS — The campaign of the United Arab Emirates' candidate for UN secretary-general, Lana Nusseibeh, has faced significant pushback this week over her country's alleged role in Sudan's civil war, Inter Press Service reported on Friday, October 30, in coverage of a growing backlash also reported by The Guardian.

Source: IPS via Global Issues

This is a new development in a race Awaaz Punjab covered earlier this month, when the UAE announced on October 21 that Nusseibeh, its assistant minister for political affairs and its former ambassador to the UN, would run to succeed Antonio Guterres, whose second term ends on December 31. Her entry upended a race that had become gridlocked.

Sudanese diaspora members and human rights groups argue that Nusseibeh has repeatedly echoed her government's categorical denials of accusations that the UAE has supplied weapons, vehicles and logistical support to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF). UN reporting, human rights organisations and US intelligence assessments have documented such support, according to IPS; the UAE denies the accusations. In July, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN MENA) urged UN member states to impose an immediate arms embargo on the UAE over the issue.

At a briefing on Tuesday, October 27, organised by the advocacy group Avaaz, Ibrahim Alduma, a native of El Fasher and chief programs officer at Sudan Action Hub, shared a personal account of the civilian toll after the RSF's assault on El Fasher in October 2025, which the UN said bore "hallmarks of genocide". Hala al-Karib, a Sudanese pro-democracy and women's rights activist, argued that Security Council endorsement of Nusseibeh would effectively deny the atrocities committed in El Fasher, The Guardian reported.

Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, told the same briefing that Nusseibeh had been asked about the UAE's role and had denied it without regard to the facts, and on Wednesday Human Rights Watch's chief advocacy officer, Bruno Stagno Ugarte, said her dismissal of UN reports had undermined justice and accountability for victims, according to The Guardian's reporting.

In a statement on Tuesday, Nusseibeh described the RSF's crimes as "atrocious" and pledged that, if appointed, she would support UN fact-finding missions and efforts to secure accountability and transitional justice over the war in Sudan. She has also taken a leave of absence from her UAE ministerial role, according to reports of her response.

A candidate for secretary-general must win at least nine affirmative votes in the 15-member Security Council and avoid a veto by any of its five permanent members — the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France and Russia. The dispute now poses a direct test for the Council: whether a candidate's national record on an active war becomes a deciding factor in choosing the UN's next chief.