Foreign ministers of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation elected Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed as the organization's new secretary-general on Thursday. The organization comprises 57 countries. Ould Cheikh Ahmed succeeds Chadian Hussein Ibrahim Taha, who took office as secretary-general in November 2021 and whose term officially ends in November 2026. The Mauritanian diplomat arrives in Jeddah, in western Saudi Arabia, where the organization's General Secretariat is based, bringing more than three decades of extensive experience between UN work and crisis hotspots. The organization's charter sets the secretary-general's term at five years, renewable only once. The secretary-general is elected by the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member states according to the principles of fair geographical distribution, rotation, and equal opportunity, while taking competence, integrity, and experience into account. The charter does not provide for a fixed sequence for the transfer of the position among the Arab, African, and Asian groups. Instead, it makes rotation and fair geographical distribution the basis for the selection. In February, the African Union formally endorsed Ould Cheikh Ahmed's candidacy for the position for the 2027-2032 term, listing Mauritania within the Northern Africa region.
