BERLIN, Sept 22, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Germany is nominating Ethiopia's Tedros 
Adhanom Ghebreyesus for a new term as the head of the World Health 
Organization, the health ministry said on Wednesday. 

  With Germany's nomination secured, the 56-year-old former health minister 
appeared to be the only person in the race a day before the deadline for 
submissions on Thursday. 

  Tedros was elected as the head of WHO in 2017 and became the first African 
to take the helm of the UN health agency. 

  He has not yet confirmed that he was a candidate for a second five-year 
term, but a number of diplomatic sources said he would stand. 

  Tedros enjoys relative popularity over his role in steering the WHO's 
efforts to coordinate the tumultuous global pandemic response, and even if 
other candidates were put forward at the last minute, he was widely expected 
to come out on top. 

  But his candidacy had been complicated after Ethiopia allegedly withdrew 
its support over the conflict in his home region of Tigray. 

  Candidates for the UN health body's top slot are generally nominated by 
their home countries. 

  In principle though any WHO member state can back any candidate and Tedros 
had been widely expected to receive support from at least one country. 

  But Germany's nomination came as a surprise. 

  Most observers had predicted that the backing would come from African 
countries, which have generally been happy to have one of their own in such 
an important position. 

  Diplomats had suggested that at least one or more countries on the 
continent would be willing to risk facing Ethiopian anger and back him. 

  Ethiopia itself has not officially said it will not back Tedros, but 
several sources said the country had clearly signalled it was withdrawing its 
support for his candidacy. 

  As the world's highest-profile Tigrayan, Tedros has fallen foul of the 
government in Addis Ababa by repeatedly using his platform to condemn the 
crackdown in his home region. 

  WHO member states have until 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Thursday to nominate 
director-general candidates, but the UN health agency is not expected to 
announce who is on the list until early November. 

  If there is more than one candidate, an initial screening process will 
begin in January 2022 to create a shortlist of no more than five candidates. 

  Member states will vote for the next WHO chief through a secret ballot 
during the World Health Assembly in May.