The World Health Organization's chief looks set to run unopposed for a second term at the helm as tries to guide the world through its biggest health crisis in a century, sources said.
However, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lacks the support of his native Ethiopia due to friction over the Tigray conflict, the sources told Reuters.
Exactly how he will be nominated ahead of the deadline for nominations next week is unclear amid opposition from the Addis Ababa government, they said.
However, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lacks the support of his native Ethiopia due to friction over the Tigray conflict, the sources told Reuters.
Exactly how he will be nominated ahead of the deadline for nominations next week is unclear amid opposition from the Addis Ababa government, they said.
An Ethiopian former health minister from the Tigray region, Tedros became the WHO's first African director-general in 2017.
He has steered the agency through several Ebola outbreaks as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, surviving savage criticism from the Trump administration for allegedly being "China-centric".
While he has not publicly acknowledged his plans to run again for a second five-year term, saying he was focusing on fighting the pandemic, four sources said he is the only known candidate.
They declined to be named due to confidentiality of the process.
"Tedros is for sure a candidate," said one source with direct knowledge of the election process, adding that at this stage there was no alternative candidate.
Billene Seyoum, the prime minister's spokeswoman, and Dina Mufti, spokesperson for the Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Ministry, did not respond to requests for comment.
Tedros has described the situation in Tigray as "horrific" and regularly tweets about developments there but denies taking sides in the conflict.
Consultations are underway including among African countries about who will propose his candidacy before the Sept. 23 deadline, two of the sources said.
The process of formal submissions is confidential and it was not possible to determine whether a formal submission for Tedros had already been made.
The WHO did not respond to a request for comment. Its rules do not specify that a candidate must be proposed by his or her own country only that the submission must be done by one of its 194 member states.
The formal appointment is scheduled for May 2022 at the World Health Assembly.
By Reuters
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