After Macky Sall withdraws from UN race, historian says he “never stood a chance”

Macky Sall, Senegal’s president from 2012 to 2024, announced on October 17, 2026, from Marrakech that he was withdrawing from the race to become UN secretary-general, a day after an informal Security Council vote. Historian Amzat Boukari-Yabara wrote on X that Sall’s candidacy was doomed and had wasted time, while criticizing African leaders who, he said, confuse ego with ambition. Sall said he had consulted Burundian and African Union President Evariste Ndayishimiye and Senegalese and ECOWAS President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, and hoped to help produce a consensus candidate; he said test ballots pointed toward someone from Latin America and the Caribbean, possibly a woman.