U.N. LEADER DECLARES HE WILL SEEK SECOND TERM

Secretary-General António Guterres officially declared Monday that he is seeking a second five-year term at the helm of the United Nations.

Guterres, 71, whose current term ends next Dec. 31, said in a letter to General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir that “It would be my honor to continue to serve the organization in pursuing its purposes and fulfilling its noble objectives.”

The former Portuguese prime minister and U.N. refugee chief was elected by the 193-member assembly to succeed Ban Ki-moon after a race in 2016 that included 13 candidates — seven women and six men. Guterres took office on Jan. 1, 2017.

“I am available to serve a second term as secretarygeneral of the United Nations, if that will be the will of member states,” Guterres said in a letter to Bozkir obtained by The Associated Press.

Several diplomats have said Guterres was waiting for the results of the U.S. presidential election and would not have sought a second term if Donald Trump won. But another diplomat familiar with his thinking said Guterres, after more than 40 years of service, would have felt he couldn’t desert the U.N. if Trump had defeated President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on Jan. 20.

Trump pulled the United States out of the World Health Organization, the U.N.-backed 2015 Paris climate agreement and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and stopped funding the U.N. population fund and the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Biden has said the U.S. will quickly rejoin the WHO and the climate agreement.