Uganda has nominated former Foreign Minister Olara Otunnu to become the next UN secretary-general, making him the seventh candidate seeking to replace Antonio Guterres.

The East African country announced Otunnu’s candidacy in an official Foreign Ministry statement on Sunday, describing him as a statesman and international civil servant with more than four decades of diplomatic experience.

The ministry cited Otunnu’s experience in diplomacy, government, academia, and peacebuilding, saying it makes him “exceptionally well suited to lead the United Nations at this critical juncture in global affairs.”

Otunnu, 75, served as Uganda’s foreign minister from 1985 to 1986 and as the country’s permanent representative to the UN between 1980 and 1985. He was also UN under-secretary-general and the organization’s first special representative for children and armed conflict from 1998 to 2005.

“He successfully placed the protection of war-affected children on the agenda of the Security Council and designed the landmark compliance and monitoring regime adopted under Security Council Resolution 1612 in 2005, which remains in operation to-date,” the ministry stated.

Otunnu and former Senegalese President Macky Sall are the only African contenders. If selected, either would become the third African to lead the UN and the first since Ghana’s Kofi Annan, who served from 1997 to 2006. Egypt’s Boutros Boutros-Ghali was the first African secretary-general, serving from 1992 to 1996.

The other five candidates are from Latin America and the Caribbean, the only regional group that has never produced a UN secretary-general. They are former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi of Argentina, former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan, former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa, and former Guyanese Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.

Guterres’ second five-year term expires on December 31, and his successor will inherit an organization under pressure over its response to global conflicts and growing calls for structural reform, including the African Union’s demand for at least two permanent Security Council seats.

The Security Council will begin a series of closed-door straw polls on Thursday, with members marking candidates “encourage,” “discourage,” or “no opinion.” A candidate must ultimately secure at least nine of the council’s 15 votes without a veto from China, France, Russia, the UK, or the US before being submitted to the General Assembly for formal appointment.

In his vision statement, Uganda’s Otunnu pledged to pursue institutional reform, strengthen conflict-resolution efforts, and promote international oversight of artificial intelligence. He described his candidacy as an opportunity to “reinvent and renew” the UN and give it “a new lease on life.”