Olara A. Otunnu is a Ugandan politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was President of the Uganda People's Congress (UPC), a political party, from 2010 to 2015 and stood as the party's candidate in the 2011 presidential election. Otunnu was Uganda's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1980 to 1985 and served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1986. Later, he was President of the International Peace Academy from 1990 to 1998, and he was an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict from 1997 to 2005.
Otunnu was born in Mucwini, among the Chua people of the Central Luo.
He received his early education at Mvara, Mucwini, and Anaka primary schools. He received his secondary education at Gulu High School and King's College Budo. He then attended Makerere University (where he was president of the Students' Guild),Oxford University (where he was Overseas Scholar), and Harvard Law School (where he was a Fulbright Scholar).
Otunnu was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict on 19 August 1997, taking office on 1 September 1997.
Otunnu ran in 2010 to succeed Miria Obote, wife of former President Milton Obote, as president of the UPC. On 14 May, he defeated her son, Jimmy Akena, at a UPC delegates conference. UPC nominated him in November 2010 as its presidential candidate. On election day in 2011, however, he refused to vote, even for himself. He received 1.58 percent of the vote.