An Emirati diplomat who as UAE ambassador to the UN helped secure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza has entered the race as a late contender to succeed António Guterres as the world body’s secretary general.

Lana Nusseibeh, who is of Palestinian heritage, is widely noted for her advocacy of the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution and has won the endorsement of the state of Palestine .

She is however facing criticism over the UAE’s contested role in arming the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, a group that has been accused of genocide by two successive US administrations.

Nusseibeh, 48, has been one of the leading UAE diplomats denying reports that the UAE supplied weapons to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo in defiance of a UN arms sales ban.

A grouping of Latin American and Caribbean states, CELAC, has also sent a letter of objection to the security council, claiming her late entry came just as a consensus was emerging behind their region holding the UN top job.

Nusseibeh, who…