{"id":43226,"date":"2026-08-20T07:53:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T05:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=43226"},"modified":"2026-08-20T08:03:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T06:03:29","slug":"ugandan-un-candidate-stresses-reform-invokes-st-francis","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/ugandan-un-candidate-stresses-reform-invokes-st-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"Ugandan UN candidate stresses reform, invokes St Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Ugandan diplomat Olara Otunnu, one of eight candidates seeking to \u200bsucceed Antonio Guterres as United Nations (UN) Secretary-General next year, on Wednesday called for continued reform of \u200cthe world body and the restoration of its moral authority.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Otunnu, a former UN under-secretary-general who served as a special representative for children and armed conflict, invoked St. Francis of Assisi as he spoke of the need for the world body to help \u200bbridge growing global divisions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; \u200bwhere there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope where there is darkness, \u2060light; where there is sadness, joy,&#8221; he said, quoting the Prayer of St. Francis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Otunnu spoke in an informal \u200bdialogue with UN member states and civil society groups aimed at assessing the candidates to replace Guterres, who \u200bsteps down at the end of the year after two five-year terms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">At 75, Otunnu is the oldest of the candidates. Ecuadorean diplomat Ivonne Baki, who joined the contest on Tuesday, is also 75, but was born several months later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Guterres&#8217; successor faces the task \u200bof revitalising an organization in crisis and declining stature amid pressure to reform what critics say is a bloated, \u200bcostly bureaucracy and reduce duplication across its agencies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Like other candidates, Otunnu stressed the need to continue the process of reform.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":43232,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-43226","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"United Nations candidates","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43227,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43226\/revisions\/43227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=43226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}