Annan Unanimously Nominated for Second Term as U.N. Secretary General
The U.N. Security Council yesterday unanimously nominated U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to serve a second five-year term as the head of the United Nations, the Washington Post reports. The council's vote is "all but certain" to be endorsed tomorrow by the 189-member General Assembly. Annan has declined to speak about the election until after the Assembly's vote and has instead promoted the General Assembly special session on HIV/AIDS, which concluded yesterday, and appealed for international donations to the Global AIDS and Health Fund (Lynch, Washington Post, 6/28). While the vote typically occurs at the end of the year, Bangladeshi Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, who is also Security Council president, proposed "moving up the process," a move seen as a "gesture of support" on the last day of the special session that Annan conceived (Farley, Los Angeles Times, 6/28). Annan has made the fight against AIDS his "personal priority" (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/26).
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