Senegal has officially thrown its weight behind Macky Sall’s UN bid, ending months of uncertainty over whether the country would back its former president’s campaign to lead the United Nations.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye confirmed the decision on Friday, 17 July 2026, after receiving Sall at the Presidential Palace in Dakar. According to a communique from Senegal’s ministry of African integration, foreign affairs and Senegalese abroad, Faye decided that Senegal would officially back Macky Sall’s UN bid and instructed the government, along with the country’s entire diplomatic network, to mobilise in its favour among United Nations member states.
The ministry described the meeting as taking place in an atmosphere of cordiality and republican courtesy, reflecting Faye’s attachment to dialogue, state continuity and national unity. Faye also called on the country’s active forces to rally behind Macky Sall’s UN bid, which he said should now be presented as Senegal’s candidacy in service of Africa and a more effective multilateralism.
The Dakar visit, tied directly to Macky Sall’s UN bid, marked his first return to Senegal since handing power to Faye in April 2024. More than a thousand supporters gathered at a military airport in Dakar to welcome him, according to Africanews. He addressed the crowd from atop a vehicle before heading to the Presidential Palace, where the Senegalese presidency said he briefed Faye on his campaign and pledged to keep the head of state informed at every stage of the selection process.
Macky Sall’s UN bid took shape after Burundi, which currently chairs the African Union, nominated him on 2 March 2026 to succeed the outgoing secretary general, Antonio Guterres. Under UN rules, a candidate needs only one member state to nominate them, though wider African Union backing had not followed automatically before Friday’s announcement. Sall served as Senegal’s president from 2012 to 2024 and chaired the African Union in 2022, a role that broadened his diplomatic standing on debt relief and development financing.
He faces a competitive field. Rivals for the post include Chile’s Michelle Bachelet and Argentina’s Rafael Mariano Grossi, according to the Rio Times. The five permanent members of the Security Council hold veto power over the eventual recommendation, meaning Macky Sall’s UN bid is unlikely to be settled quickly. Guterres steps down on 31 December 2026, and his successor takes office on 1 January 2027 for a five year term that can be renewed once.
The timing of Senegal’s endorsement matters. The Security Council is expected to hold its first straw poll on candidates around 23 July 2026, according to The East African, and a clear statement of home country support was seen as important for building momentum ahead of that vote.
Macky Sall’s UN bid has not been free of controversy. Senegal’s Court of Auditors found that his government understated debt and deficit figures by around seven billion dollars, a figure S&P Global Ratings later put closer to thirteen billion dollars. His presidency also ended amid unrest after he attempted to postpone the 2024 election, a move the Constitutional Council struck down following deadly protests.
Relations between Sall and Faye have been strained for years. Faye was jailed under Sall’s government less than a year before the 2024 vote and was released only days before the election alongside his political ally, Ousmane Sonko. Friday’s meeting was their first since Faye succeeded Sall, and Senegalese media described it as a significant political thaw between the two men.
If elected, Sall would become the tenth UN secretary general and only the third African to hold the post, following Egypt’s Boutros Boutros Ghali and Ghana’s Kofi Annan. Backing from Dakar does not guarantee that outcome, but it removes a persistent question mark that had hung over Macky Sall’s UN bid for months. For now, Senegal’s formal endorsement gives the campaign renewed diplomatic weight as the contest for the world’s top diplomatic job enters its next phase.
