THE Tandos Antanom Gebregesous is expected to serve a second five-year term to the leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO) as he is now the only candidate nominated by 28 countries, Western diplomats announced today.
“The WHO is able to announce that a single candidate has been nominated by the Member States by the deadline of 23 September 2021: Dr. “Tantros Antanom Gebregesous, who is the current general manager”, the WHO points out in a statement.
Earlier today, Reuters, as broadcast by the Athens News Agency, citing Western diplomats, reported that Tetros is the only candidate.
The diplomats cited a letter sent by the WHO to its 194 member countries informing them of the confidential candidacies contained in sealed envelopes submitted in late September.
Ethiopia has refused to nominate Tentros for a second term amid controversy over the Tigray conflict, making it necessary for other countries to step in to nominate him.
The 28 countries include France, Germany and other EU countries, as well as three African countries: Botswana, Kenya and Rwanda, diplomats told Reuters. The US is not one of them.
The issue is so sensitive that the African Union did not even discuss his appointment, not even at its last meeting this month, African diplomats said.
The WHO will hold elections during its annual meeting of health ministers next May.
The nominations were kept secret in order to limit the candidates’ campaigns.
Who is the 56-year-old Tantros Antanom Gebregesous?
Tentros, a 56-year-old doctor and former Ethiopian Minister of Health and Foreign Affairs, is the first African to be elected director general of the WHO in May 2017.
He led the global management of the coronavirus pandemic, the worst public health crisis in a century, which first appeared in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and has already cost the lives of 5.2 million people.
The United States, under former President Donald Trump, has accused him of being “China-centric,” a charge he denies.
His relations with the United States have improved since Joe Biden took over the presidency in January.
However, Tentros provoked China with its public appeals to Beijing in July to make public the results of the laboratory tests in Wuhan and provide more information on the first coronavirus cases.
His experts World Health Organization have not yet gained access to the country to investigate the origin of the virus.
WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said the agency would issue a statement later today.
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