UN director calls for lasting Security Council spot for Africa

(MENAFN) United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has advocated for significant reforms to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), including the allocation of a permanent seat to Africa. Speaking at a debate in New York on Monday, Guterres criticized the current structure of the council as outdated and inadequate for representing the continent’s vast population and addressing its unique challenges.

Guterres highlighted Africa’s underrepresentation in global governance institutions, including the Security Council and international financial bodies, despite the continent’s substantial involvement in conflicts and crises that these institutions are meant to manage. He emphasized that Africa, home to over a billion people, is unfairly excluded from having a permanent voice in the UNSC, the world’s foremost body for maintaining peace and security.

Currently, the Security Council consists of 15 members, with five permanent seats held by Russia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, each holding veto power over resolutions. Africa is represented on a non-permanent basis by Algeria, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone. Guterres argued that this structure no longer reflects contemporary global realities and that Africa's significant contributions to and impacts from global issues warrant a permanent role in the council.

Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio, also addressing the council, echoed these sentiments, advocating for two permanent seats and two additional non-permanent seats for Africa. He criticized the Security Council’s failure to evolve since its inception, calling its current composition unjust and counterproductive to its mission of global peace and security.

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