NEW YORK (Dispatches) – The candidacy of Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh for United Nations secretary-general has drawn criticism from human rights groups and Sudanese activists who accuse her of denying the UAE’s role in supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s war, amid what UN investigators have described as genocidal acts in El Fasher.
Nusseibeh, nominated last week, is one of seven candidates seeking to replace António Guterres, whose second five-year term ends this year. 
To be appointed, a candidate must secure at least nine affirmative votes from the 15-member Security Council and avoid a veto from the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France or Russia.
At a virtual briefing organized by the advocacy group Avaaz, Kate Ferguson, co-director of the British NGO Protection Approaches, said there is “not, as far as I have seen, sufficient evidence that this candidate is independent from the state from which she comes,” The Guardian reported.
Hala al-Karib, regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, said there is no evidence supporting Nusseibeh’s independence from her home country, adding that Security Council endorsement would amount to a “denial of the genocidal acts committed in El Fasher by the RSF.”
In February, the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said it had found evidence establishing that at least three underlying acts of genocide had been committed by the RSF in and around El Fasher, and that the October 2025 attack on the city bore the “hallmarks of genocide.” 
A September report by the same mission found that transnational networks operating across several countries, including the UAE, had supplied the RSF with weapons, logistics, training and personnel, documenting the deployment of up to 2,000 former Colombian military contractors alongside the force.
Nusseibeh has repeatedly denied that the UAE provides military support to the RSF, despite the UN findings. The war, which erupted in April 2023, has displaced more than 14 million people.
Bruno Stagno Ugarte, chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch, said Nusseibeh’s “disinformation about the UAE’s rights record, particularly her dismissal of the UN’s own reports documenting the UAE’s links to the RSF, has seriously undermined justice and accountability for the victims.”
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, told the same briefing: “It’s fair to say the RSF would not have been able to be nearly as successful militarily as it was and has been without that support from the UAE.” 
He added: “It amazes me that she’s being put forward. This is a completely unsuitable candidate.”