Ivonne A-Baki enters UN secretary-general race

Ecuadorian diplomat Ivonne A-Baki has entered the race to become the next UN secretary-general, the head of the UN General Assembly said in an August 18 letter.

A-Baki, who represented Ecuador in the United States and previously served as foreign trade minister, was nominated by Tonga. She joins a field of five women and three men seeking to succeed Antonio Guterres of Portugal, whose second five-year term ends on December 31, 2026.

Tonga highlighted A-Baki's roles as a cabinet minister, the first woman ambassador from Ecuador to Washington and ambassador to Qatar. A-Baki, who was born to Lebanese parents, was also instrumental in brokering dialogue between Ecuador and Peru after their brief 1995 border war.

“I have lived through the ravages of war,” A-Baki wrote on X. She said she was the only candidate whose heritage bridges Latin America and the Middle East and the only nominee to have helped broker a peace agreement between two UN member states.

A-Baki was the public face of a failed plan to prevent oil exploitation in an Amazon reserve in exchange for a large international contribution. The plan was shelved in 2013 by then-president Rafael Correa, who authorised crude extraction in Yasuni National Park after acknowledging the initiative’s economic failure.

The UN Security Council held its first “straw poll” last month to gauge support for the then-seven candidates. United Nations insider Rebeca Grynspan was leading after the first round.

The field also includes former Guyanese foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Maria Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, Olara Otunnu of Uganda and Macky Sall of Senegal. Nominations remain open.

A candidate needs at least nine votes from the 15-member Security Council and must avoid a veto by any of the five permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom. The chosen name then goes to the General Assembly for confirmation.