African nations seek UN Security Council permanent representation

By:Zakariye Ahmed,

On Thursday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni urged the United Nations Security Council to approve reforms that would give Africa permanent UN security council representation.

Opening the 9th ministerial-level meeting of the African Union committee of 10 on the reform of the UN security council in Kampala attended by representatives from ten African Union member countries: Senegal, Uganda, Algeria, Kenya, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Libya, Namibia, and Equatorial Guinea,

Museveni stated that the African continent’s 1.3 billion people deserve to be represented on the Security Council, “The United Nations Security Council should and must be changed,” he stated. “This is not a favor from anybody, but a right of all peoples that inhabit on the planet Earth”.

“We demand our right for permanent representation on the UN Security Council. Africans and billions of Asians cannot be kept out of the UN Security Council by five member states that monopolize it now.”

He referred to the current system as being unfair, saying Africa must have a permanent seat on the Security Council to ensure that it is not used negatively against Africa.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said reforms would prevent “mistakes” like the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, who is ruling for nearly 42 years, and two months later, he was captured and killed.

Yoweri Museveni concluded his speech by saying, “1.4 billion Africans, which will increase to 2.5 billion in the next 29 years, and billions of Asians, the former colonized peoples, cannot be kept out of that UN Security Council on terms similar to the current five permanent UN security council (USA, China, Russia, Britain, and France) that monopolize that body.”

Africa started seeking these positions since March,2005, When the African Union (AU) appointed members of the Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government (C-10) with the mandate to promote and canvass for the African Common Position on the reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and agreement was reached at Ezulwini in Swaziland (Kingdom of Eswatini), African nations in the committee agreed as follows:

1.To promote Africa to be fully represented in all UN organs, specifically the United Nations Security Council.

2.To have two permanent seats with two veto rights and two more non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council, as Africa’s legitimate right and aspiration to correct the historical injustices endured by the continent.

3.That the African Union (AU) shall be responsible for the selection of African representatives to the UN Security Council

Despite widespread support for revamping the Security Council to reflect today’s global realities, attempts have been mired by national and regional rivalry. Deep divisions forced the General Assembly to put three competing resolutions on enlargement on hold in 2005. One proposal was for Germany, Japan, Brazil, and India to have permanent seats on a 25-member council with no veto power. A group of countries in the middle ranking, including Italy and Pakistan, requested a 25-member council with 10 non-permanent seats. The African Union also wanted a 26-member council with six more permanent seats, two of which would be veto power by Africa, and five non-permanent seats.