The man denounced as “Not Fit to be WHO Leader” by one Japanese publication appears to be a shoo-in for the job again.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who in 2017 was elected to a five-year term as the World Health Organization’s director general, has no opponents for the position so far, Reuters reported Friday, citing sources it did not name.
Ghebreyesus not only famously stirred antagonisms across America after former President Donald Trump lambasted him for being too soft on China in regard to COVID-19, his home nation of Ethiopia is so angry at him that it might not even nominate him.
The deadline for nominations is this week.
“Tedros is for sure a candidate,” said one of the unnamed sources Reuters cited.
Does the Biden administration have what it takes to reform WHO and eliminate China’s dominance over the group? https://t.co/aPBW4TbIyA
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) September 10, 2021
But he is from the Tigray region of Ethiopia, which is facing a massive humanitarian crisis due to starvation.
The region also is in the midst of a civil war against the government that would nominate Ghebreyesus.
Ethiopian Gen. Berhanu Jula has said Ghebreyesus is aligned with the rebels and has tried to get them guns, a claim Ghebreyesus denies.
If Ethiopia does not nominate Ghebreyesus, someone else will.
“Kenya will support his re-nomination,” Macharia Kamau, principal secretary in Kenya’s foreign ministry, told Reuters. “I think there will be a group of countries” supporting him.
One commentator said the United States should have been grooming someone to replace Ghebreyesus.
My latest in @ForeignPolicy on the WHO director general race. “We’ll never know for sure, but it’s safe to say that many people might still be alive had Tedros acted more forcefully against the virus instead of working so hard to please Beijing.” https://t.co/7ZWnpqLpCX
— Anthony Ruggiero (@NatSecAnthony) September 9, 2021
China is a part but Tedros should be held responsible for crimes against humanity. It’s not his first rodeo. He helps China however. But let’s take it back to 2006, 2009 and 2011https://t.co/dkZ3tIhLQR
— ImNotACat (@imnotacatx) September 14, 2021
“It’s a glaring failure of the Biden administration not to have prepared an alternative,” Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote in an Op-Ed on in Foreign Policy.
“But if Washington focuses its energies, it may yet prevent Tedros’ reelection—and with it, a victory for the broken status quo that harms both U.S. interests and global public health.
“Since the earliest days of the pandemic, Tedros has been pandering to Beijing and helping it cover up its failures,” Ruggiero wrote.