According to the Security Council Report, Council members continue meeting with the candidates for Secretary-General in July and are expected to begin conducting the first straw polls before the end of the month. The 2026 race thus enters its decisive month.
The Council's own agenda sets the tone. Under the presidency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, July features an open debate on the peaceful settlement of disputes, based on a Secretary-General's report requested by resolution 2788. A high-level debate is also scheduled on natural resource governance as a foundation of peace, security and prosperity.
These themes go to the heart of the official vision statement President Macky Sall filed with the United Nations. Its first pillar rests on one conviction: peace, security and development are intrinsically linked and mutually reinforcing.
The candidate commits to three concrete levers. First, prevention: sustained work to strengthen early-warning mechanisms, to act before crises erupt. Second, regional cooperation, through closer collaboration between the United Nations and regional organisations particularly in conflict prevention and resolution. In this area, his experience as African Union Chair in 2022 is a proven asset. Third, coherence in the field: better coordination between peace operations, development agencies and humanitarian bodies should avoid duplication and increase overall impact, with particular attention to structurally fragile countries.
This logic is economic as much as political, since acting early costs less in human lives and in resources. The vision statement notes that the exorbitant costs of conflict now weigh heavily on the Organization. It proposes a UN refocused on its original vocation, that of a platform for strategic consultation able to deliver collective responses that are credible and effective.
Seventeen days before the announced window for the first straw polls, the substantive debate is open. Member States must say what Organization they want for the decade ahead. President Macky Sall offers them a UN that prevents crises early and uses its resources wisely, so as to produce results governments can defend before their citizens.
The full vision statement is available at www.mackysall.net.