Ban Ki-moon announced Monday that he will stand for a second five-year term as UN secretary general and diplomats said he could win a vote before the end of the month. The 66-year-old former South Korean foreign minister told a press conference he had sent a letter to the 192 UN member states to "offer, humbly, myself in consideration for a second term as secretary general of the United Nations."
Ban has been secretary general since January 1, 2007 and his term ends on December 31. Diplomats say that with no rival in sight, the UN Security Council should give its approval and the UN General Assembly will hold a formal vote before the end of June. "Looking back, these four and a half years have marked a period of extraordinary challenge for the United Nations and international community," Ban said.
"We can be proud of what we accomplished together. We have raised climate change to the top of the global agenda, we have responded quickly and effectively in areas of devastating humanitarian emergencies" in Myanmar, Haiti, Pakistan and elsewhere. "We have saved many lives and sowed the seeds of peace in Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d'Ivoire. They must be nurtured."