Ban gains U.S. backing for second term

Ban Ki-moon appears to have secured a commitment from the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama and other key Security Council members to serve a second five-year term as U.N. Secretary General, according to senior U.N. diplomats. The development — first reported by Reuters news service — indicates that the Obama administration has overcome some ...

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Ban Ki-moon appears to have secured a commitment from the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama and other key Security Council members to serve a second five-year term as U.N. Secretary General, according to senior U.N. diplomats.

Ban Ki-moon appears to have secured a commitment from the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama and other key Security Council members to serve a second five-year term as U.N. Secretary General, according to senior U.N. diplomats.

The development — first reported by Reuters news service — indicates that the Obama administration has overcome some of its initial misgivings about Ban’s leadership qualities and recognizes him as a reliable ally on some of its most important goals, including the international effort to drive Muammar Qaddafi from power.

"Ban’s already received preliminary shows of support from Obama and the leaders of Britain and France," a diplomat told Reuters. "Russia and China won’t oppose him. I think it’s safe to say that he’ll keep his job."

Throughout most of his tenure, Ban has received harsh criticism from human rights group for failing to speak out bluntly against abuses by dictatorial regimes from Burma, to Sudan and Sri Lanka. Last year, Ban declined to use his influence to prod China’s President Hu Jintao to release the Chinese pro-democracy advocate, Liu Xiaobo, who had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In recent weeks, Ban has spoken out forcefully against some autocratic governments in the Arab World, including Egypt, Syria and Libya, who have targeted civilian protesters. And he has pressed for Ivory Coast’ defeated presidential candidate, Laurent Gbagbo, to step down from power. In an interview with Raghida Dergham, Ban explained why he has taken a tougher line on the Middle East than on other issues.

"I believe this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity," he told her in an interview that ran in Huffington Post.  "I was one of the students who went out to the streets in Korea when I was young, asking for more freedom and bold reforms and changes. Then Korea achieved democratic development as well economic prosperity."

U.N. diplomats said that Ban, whose term expires at the end of 2011, is expected to formally announce his bid to run for a second term some time in the coming two months. The Asia Group, which includes all the U.N. members from Asia and the Middle East, are expected to formally endorse his candidacy. The U.N. Security Council will then move to recommend him to the 192-member U.N. General Assembly for a second five-year term in June, according to diplomatic sources. The U.N. General Assembly is almost certain to support the council recommendations.

But it remains clear that the real power to determine Ban’s future rests with the permanent five members of the Security Council — the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia. Senior U.N. diplomats said that Ban had indicated in recent weeks that the United States has voiced support for his campaign for a second term. A spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations declined to comment.

Follow me on Twitter @columlynch

Colum Lynch was a staff writer at Foreign Policy between 2010 and 2022. Twitter: @columlynch

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