President Macky Sall published two messages of gratitude on 20 July, closing the West African sequence of his candidacy for United Nations Secretary-General.
To the President of the Republic of Senegal, first: "I thank H.E. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye for the audience of 17 July, and every Senegalese man and woman for a welcome I will not forget." On 17 July, the candidate had been received at the presidential palace by the Head of State, in an audience the Presidency hailed as "a symbol of the continuity of the State and the permanence of institutions, beyond alternations of power." A popular welcome had accompanied him from the airport to the palace.
To the President of the Republic of The Gambia, then: "I warmly thank H.E. @BarrowPresident, President of the Republic of The Gambia, for our cordial meeting of 17 July in the context of my candidacy for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations. I had the pleasure of sharing my vision and exchanging with him on the issues and challenges at the heart of Africa and global governance." That audience at the State House in Banjul had extended, on the same day, the Dakar leg: two capitals, two immediate neighbours, one conversation on African unity.
The twofold gratitude speaks of a method: listen, thank, move forward, without ever pre-empting what states will decide. It also speaks of a conviction, carried from capital to capital by the only declared African candidacy: Africa gains by advancing united, and the United Nations gains by hearing its voice.
The calendar is tightening. The candidate will present his vision to the member states at the 23 July meeting, and the Security Council's first straw polls are expected in the last week of July. From Dakar and Banjul to New York, the course does not change: an integrated approach to peace, security and development; a renewed multilateralism; a streamlined governance able to do more with less. Africa at heart, the world in sight.
The full vision statement is available at www.mackysall.net.