Macky Sall Withdraws UN Secretary-General Bid After Backlash Over AU Endorsement

Former Senegalese president Macky Sall has pulled out of the race to become UN secretary-general, following objections to his nomination and a dispute over how he secured the African Union’s backing.

By: Tunji Okunlola

In a post on X on Saturday, Sall said he decided on an informal vote on 16 October and consultations with Burundi’s president, Évariste Ndayishimiye, the current AU chairperson, and Senegalese president Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, the current chair of ECOWAS. “I have decided to withdraw my candidacy for said position,” he wrote.

How the endorsement unravelled

Burundi first put Sall forward. Ndayishimiye took over the rotating AU chairmanship on 14 February, which led to questions over whether the nomination was a single country’s initiative or a genuine continental endorsement.

Under AU rules, candidacies go first to the Committee of Permanent Representatives and the Ministerial Committee. They then go to the Executive Council, which decides by consensus or a two-thirds majority. The process is meant to allow member states to scrutinise and consult on each candidate.

According to Jeune Afrique, however, Sall’s name was missing from the list of African candidacies put before the Executive Council at the February AU summit, and heads of state never formally discussed it.

Burundi later circulated a draft decision to UN and AU member states in an apparent bid to win formal continental backing. The draft gave 24 hours to object and said at least one-third of eligible members would need to oppose it to block the endorsement. Only states that had met their AU financial obligations and were not suspended could take part.

The objections

The AU said 20 member states broke the silence, among them Algeria, South Africa, Liberia, Nigeria and Rwanda. Fourteen formally objected, and six, including Egypt, asked for more time. Egypt and Liberia later withdrew their positions, but this did not change the outcome.

Most of the objections were procedural. Several countries argued that a silence procedure was unsuitable for such a significant decision, given the lack of room for discussion and the very short deadline. They also noted that the one-third threshold departs from established practice, where one or more objections can be enough to stop a decision passing by silence.

Senegal, for its part, distanced itself from Burundi’s initiative, saying it had not been involved. Sall’s candidacy was also rejected by his home country, amid continuing disputes over his political legacy.