Olara Otunnu (Candidate for UN Secretary-General) following his interactive dialogue for the position of the next Secretary-General of the United Nations- Media Stakeout

Distinguished members of the press, good evening and thank you so much for joining us. It's my honor to present to you Ambassador Olara Otunnu, candidate for Secretary General of the United Nations. He has just set up, he has just set out his vision to the General Assembly and now he's here to take your questions. Ambassador Otunnu.

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, before I say anything, may I please introduce you to our Prime Minister Emeritus, Dr. Ruhakana Ruganda. He's one of the most eminent leaders in our country, at the international level as well. He served as ambassador here, prime minister many years, and is now senior presidential envoy and the one who is leading our lobbying effort. We are also very honored to have here Ambassador Kakonge, who is the Uganda ambassador to the United States, based in Washington, D.C. And earlier I told you how touched we are that Mr. Salim Lone, who is one of the survivors of that horrific attack in Baghdad in 2003, is today here with us on this very poignant occasion. So thank you. I'm happy to be with you, and I'll take your questions.

Go ahead. Thank you. My name is Damilola. I write for PBS. My first question, there's been a lot of speculations around why you're just coming out now. Not only have you been an institution within the UN for a long time ago, the last time you had any position at the UN was 2005. Not only are you two decades late, so to say, for this race, but also you joined the race itself when the process had progressed substantially. If you could talk about that would be great. Thank you.

Well, just two things. I hope that my breadth and depth of experience covering some four decades, covering all three pillars of the United Nations, meaning peace and security on which I've worked in the Security Council as Under-Secretary General, but also when I was president of International Peace Academy, now IPI, my work on development and my work on human rights. Human rights together with Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Ruganda, we cut our teeth in the struggle against the rule of Idi Amin in Uganda. So all my adult life, I have been engaged in the promotion of human rights. So I hope that that breadth and depth of experience is what the UN needs today. More than that, some of you may know that in the leadership positions I've occupied here at the UN and elsewhere, my trademark has been two things: forging consensus, building consensus. Even when things are very contentious, two examples you may recall, one, the Otunnu formula, which is now been used since 1981 to elect the Secretary-General. I was able to put that together in 1981. Two, in this very hall, you know, in this very hall, the General Assembly, 1983, You may recall in October, in the middle of the General Assembly, we had the Grenada crisis. The government was overthrown, new forces took over, the president was killed, and we had two delegations turn up here to represent Grenada. At that time, I was the chair of the Credentials Committee, and it fell to my lot to work out something to get the General Assembly out of a three-week paralysis that had befallen the General Assembly. Later again, when I was Under-Secretary-General working on the issue of children and armed conflict, previous to my pioneering work, the Security Council preoccupation was essentially about the security of states. Nothing wrong with that, that's what the charter had provided. It fell to my lot to forge a consensus to build a common position within the Security Council to incorporate the most vulnerable segment of our population, children in situations of conflict, and women, and other innocent civilians. That machinery is now being expanded to incorporate very important provision for protection, for enforcement, and I'm very happy about that. So really, I bring that experience. And now, just you may have heard, when I began receiving calls and messages from around the globe suggesting that I should consider entering this race, I was not in New York. I was not in London or Paris. I was not in Kampala. I was deep in the womb of the countryside in northern Uganda. Why? Because as you may remember, very few places suffered as northern Uganda as a result of 20 years of war and encampment. This is the place that you remember the Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs once called the worst forgotten crisis in the world. So for the last five years or so, I've been working together with others, with the community, building a nonpartisan across the board movement to restore, to rebuild, to resuscitate this once progressive dynamic society which is now a shadow of its former self. So I would hope that these body of experience, which is probably unusual in their breadth and depth, might be useful for the U.N. and international community at this particular moment. Let me say also, when I say to the members, The UN can no longer bear the full burden of what has been placed on it. The UN should look to share, to partner with others, especially regional groups. When I was at the UN and when I was at the International Peace Academy, part of what I did with various regional groups was building that partnership. So I would hope that when we are looking for a Secretary-General who is active, who is engaged, who knows the permanent members, knows the membership, has actually had a track record of building consensus and proposing innovative solutions in difficult situations, I would hope that members might have a favorable look at my own background. So that is the answer to the questions you asked.

Also, the UN right now is going through its worst financial crisis in decades. You've talked about innovative things that you've done in the past. What new solutions might you have in solving this perennial problem for the UN right now?

First, madam, I have said that the enterprise of reform Today at the U.N. is not an optional choice. Where the U.N. finds itself today, this is an imperative. We cannot continue with business as usual. The U.N. is at risk. We'll make a grave error of judgment if we continue as is. But the purpose of doing fundamental reforms at the UN is precisely to strengthen an institution that is needed in the world. You heard all the questions from member states showing the role that they see the UN playing, what they expect from the UN. And for the UN to play the role expected of member states and what the charter provides needs to be a legitimate UN, a credible UN, a UN whose culture and method of work builds its legitimacy and impact. So that is what I hope that the reform I'm proposing will do, not kill multilateralism, but rebuild it, reposition it, strengthen it, create more impact on the ground so that we have what I would call the UN of service.

Thank you very much. If you could introduce yourself and then pose a question.

Yes, my name is Mona Al-Tul. I'm with Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

You may speak in English. I'm happy to hear English or French as you prefer. I will answer in English.

Okay. So you said during the interactive dialogue that the suffering in Gaza is becoming unacceptable. So my question for you is, What is your concrete plan if you get elected, sorry, as Secretary General to promote genuine reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis, especially among younger generations in order to build lasting peace based on the principles of the United Nations Charter? And thank you, sir.

Absolutely, I cited Gaza as an example of a conflict that we cannot stand by and watch unfold. It is a major conflict with major geopolitical implications, but above all, with unbelievable impact on ordinary innocent people. So the Secretary-General needs to be involved. Even as the Secretary-General recognizes that the decision-making at the end of the day may not rely on the Secretary-General, but the Secretary-General must be engaged, must visit, must talk to the parties in conflict, must see opportunities where he or she might suggest something useful, and must continue to highlight this situation for the world to see. So the role of the Secretary-General is very important in trying to see what can be done with the key actor, the parties in conflict. He or she cannot do much on their own. But if they're involved, they're listening patiently, they're probing, they're suggesting, something may give way. That is one, ending the conflict in Gaza. But secondly, we cannot stop there because The issue in that region, the issue of Palestine and the Palestinians have been with us for a long time. So we must proceed right away to go deeper and find ways of generating a lasting solution. That's where we must go. And again, what does this entail? The Secretary General won't have the power to say, "Let this be and it shall be." No. But the Secretary-General must engage with all the parties in the conflict, all the key actors in the situation, be part of the solution. And I hope it will be possible for the Secretary-General to make some suggestions that will prove useful and open the way to a lasting solution.

I will allow you a follow-up question, but if there are others, please make it quick.

Sorry, what were you saying? Go ahead.

Thank you very much for your answer. I'm just asking, is there a specific method of action, specific plan to achieve the goals that you are talking about?

No. From this side, I cannot say that. But one Secretary-General, by being engaged, talking to the parties in conflict, listening to what they are saying, getting a sense of where they are and where things are blocked, Possibilities then may present themselves that the Secretary-General can be helpful. But from where I am, I can't say to you, A, B, C, D is what we shall do. But we begin by the Secretary-General being intimately engaged, listening to the parties in conflict, probing and seeking opportunities where the UN can be helpful. Merci.

Thank you very much. I -- oh, you have.

Yes, if I could -- I work with Dama Lola at Pass Blue. I wanted to ask you about the fact that President Museveni has endorsed you when, in fact, you have been in the opposition party. If you could explain those politics, because there is a lot of information out. in the social media that may be misinformation or disinformation? Thank you.

President Museveni and I know each other well. We go back a long time, together with my brother, the Prime Minister. We were engaged together in the struggle against the Idi Amin regime. Subsequently, our paths diverged politically, including with my brother, the Prime Minister. And indeed, within Uganda, there are important points of divergence that needs to be talked through. I have myself, in the context of Uganda, may not be of much interest to you, but I've always said in the context of Uganda that we need to engage in a very independent, thoroughgoing truth-telling exercise concerning some of the dark episodes in our history. Two, I have said, we need from there to have acknowledgement, where we acknowledge what each of us may have contributed to those dark episodes. And that will then liberate us to climb onto the hill of national reconciliation. It's not for purpose of retribution, not for purpose of revenge, but in order to achieve genuine national reconciliation. And that remains a discussion which I continue to have with Mr. Museveni and with other leaders in Uganda. And that indeed, by the way, is my position not only with regard to Uganda, But in other situations where I've been involved, situations of conflict, of dark episodes in the history of countries, I've called for the same thing. And I called and I advocated the same thing in my own country.

President, what do you say to all the people who think that a woman should be the next Secretary-General?

The United Nations should be a United Nations of inclusion. All aspects of inclusion, whether in terms of geography, gender, culture, faiths, all inclusion. It should be an inclusive institution. And all considerations along those lines should be taken into account. They are legitimate, they are important, but at the end of the day, It is for members of the Security Council and then the general membership of the UN when they put everything on the weighing machine, they put everything to say at this particular moment in the history of the UN and the world, this is what we think we need, this is what is a good fit, this is what we decide upon. That is for the Security Council members and the general membership to decide. But these are all very important, legitimate, and much appreciated considerations taken alongside other considerations.

I noticed that all the questions came from ladies, but if we have a man -- That's okay, that's okay.

If you have a question, then ask, but there's no need. It's okay. Thank you very much, thank you very much.

Thank you very much, and that ends the day for us, thank you.