UNITED NATIONS: Afghanistan nominated its former finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, for the post of UN secretary-general, the seventh candidate in the race, the Security Council president said on Wednesday.
Ghani, 57, a scholar, economist and teacher, is chancellor of Kabul University, and has worked as an adviser to the United Nations and on World Bank projects in China, India and Russia, among others. He received his doctorate from Columbia University.
Greece's UN Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis said Afghanistan's UN mission had submitted letters sponsoring Ghani for the post at the request of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.
According to UN tradition, the next secretary-general should come from Asia, although the United States believes the race should be wide open. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan of Ghana ends his 10 years in office on Dec. 31.
The 15-member UN Security Council holds another informal straw poll next week. The council selects a candidate, who then must be confirmed by the 192-member General Assembly.
In the past two weeks, Jordan's UN Ambassador Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein entered the race as did Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the only woman candidate.
The other declared candidates are South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon; Shashi Tharoor of India, the UN undersecretary-general for public information; Surakiart Sathirathai, Thailand's deputy prime minister; and Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka, a former UN undersecretary-general for disarmament affairs.
