The United Nations Security Council on Thursday
unanimously nominated former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres to be
the next Secretary-General, recommending that the 193-member General Assembly
appoint him for five years from Jan. 1, 2017.
The General
Assembly is likely to meet next week to approve the appointment of Guterres,
67, who would replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea. Ban will step down at
the end of 2016 after serving two terms.
Ban, speaking during a visit to Rome, described Guterres
as a "super choice" as his successor.
"I am sure he will carry the torch on the full
range of key challenges, from strengthening peace operations to achieving
sustainable development, upholding human rights and easing humanitarian
suffering," Ban told reporters.
Guterres was prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to
2002 and served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to
2015. Guterres is due to speak to reporters in Lisbon later on Thursday.
"He has great United Nations credentials ... and
being High Commissioner for Refugees means travelling the world and seeing some
of the most gruesome conflicts we have to deal with and then of course he is a
high-level politician," said Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin,
president of the council for October.
"He is a person who talks to everybody, listens to
everybody, speaks his mind, a very outgoing, open person so I think it was a
great choice and I'm glad that we rallied around Mr Guterres," Churkin told
reporters.
The council met behind closed doors on Thursday to adopt
a two-paragraph resolution recommending to the General Assembly that Guterres
be appointed.
"Antonio Guterres has shown ... that he is the
strongest candidate, he has a vision and a moral authority and integrity that
put him at the top of the league table," British U.N. Ambassador Matthew
Rycroft told reporters.
French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre said Guterres
was "the right leader able to bring the nations and the community of
nations together."
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Jeffrey
Benkoe and James Dalgleish)
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