Sudan’s Killing Fields Shadow the UAE’s Bid to Run the U.N.
The United Arab Emirates has put forward one of its most polished diplomats to lead the United Nations. Sudan’s dead are now standing in the way.
Lana Nusseibeh faced the General Assembly on October 27 after Abu Dhabi nominated her for secretary-general six days earlier. She promised to make the U.N. a diplomatic problem-solver again and called Sudan a top priority. Outside the chamber, human-rights monitors asked a more basic question: can a diplomat who repeatedly defended the UAE against evidence that it sustained Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces credibly lead an institution charged with protecting civilians from them?
That is not a dispute about style. It is a test of whether the world body can confront powerful states when their money, weapons and proxies help destroy weaker ones.
The Candidacy Arrives With a War Attached
Nusseibeh served as the UAE’s permanent representative to the U.N. from 2013 to 2024 and later as minister of state. She has built a reputation as a skilled negotiator. Her nomination also carries the possibility of a historic first: no woman has served as secretary-general in the U.N.’s eight decades.
But representation cannot erase responsibility. Former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth called her “utterly inappropriate” for the job, arguing that she repeatedly denied Emirati support for the RSF “without regard to the facts.” Protection Approaches co-director Kate Ferguson said she had not seen sufficient evidence that Nusseibeh was independent of the state that nominated her.
The UAE rejects accusations that it backs either side in Sudan’s war. Nusseibeh condemned RSF atrocities during Tuesday’s dialogue and pledged support for accountability, transitional justice, a ceasefire and an inclusive political settlement. Those words matter. They do not answer the evidence assembled by U.N. investigators, researchers and rights groups.
Human Rights Watch reported in May that an Abu Dhabi-based security company with links to senior Emirati officials appeared to recruit Colombian contractors who fought alongside the RSF. The group said that finding added to a growing body of evidence of Emirati military support, including assistance that may have contributed to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The UAE has categorically denied providing such support.
The Associated Press reported that researchers tied UAE-supplied drones, mercenaries, artillery and mortars to the RSF campaign around el-Fasher. A U.N. report said at least 6,000 people were killed during the paramilitary force’s October 2025 assault on the city. Sudan brought a genocide-convention case against the UAE at the International Court of Justice; Abu Dhabi dismissed it as a publicity stunt.
A Leadership Vote About Impunity
The secretary-general does not command an army. The office’s power comes from its ability to expose crimes, mobilize states and refuse the language of neutrality when civilians are being slaughtered. That moral authority collapses if the institution treats credible evidence against a wealthy ally as a public-relations inconvenience.
Nusseibeh told Reuters when she entered the race that the U.N. must become “a problem-solver rather than a spectator to the world’s crises.” Sudan offers the sharpest possible measure of that promise. A leader cannot solve a crisis while shielding the external networks that keep it armed.
The selection process itself concentrates power. A candidate needs at least nine votes in the 15-member Security Council and must avoid a veto from China, France, Russia, Britain or the United States. The General Assembly formally appoints the Council’s choice. Another informal poll could come as early as Friday, while former Costa Rican vice president Rebeca Grynspan has led an earlier round without breaking the deadlock.
That structure invites bargains among governments far from the people who live with their consequences. Sudanese survivors do not have a veto. Neither do the millions displaced by a war sustained through foreign money, weapons and political cover.
The issue is not whether a woman from the Arab world should lead the U.N. The institution is long overdue for a woman at its helm. The issue is whether firsts will be used to launder power rather than challenge it.
Nusseibeh now has a burden no campaign slogan can lift. She must address the evidence, explain her role in defending the UAE’s Sudan policy and show what independence would look like in practice. Until then, the question hanging over her candidacy is not simply who can run the U.N. It is whether the U.N. is still willing to tell the truth about who runs wars.
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