President William Ruto on Friday sustained his lobbying for Africa to get two permanent seats at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) during a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Ruto speaking on Friday at the Chancellery Building in Berlin reiterated that the African continent is underrepresented at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) making the organization undemocratic.
“It has always been the position of Africa that the UN Security Council be democratized to an organization that speaks for democracy and representation cannot continue to exist in its current form.”
“The voice of 1.4 billion people on the continent cannot be seen or felt in the security council.” Ruto argued.
Africa has three non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council. These seats are allocated to African countries on a rotating basis for two-year terms.
The Security Council itself consists of 15 members: five permanent members (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China) and ten non-permanent members elected by the General Assembly.
The German Chancellor assured Ruto of Germany’s support in the push to reform the global security organ.
“We support Africa’s push for the democratization of the Security Council and stronger representation. It is important to us that African countries play a more prominent role in the Security Council.” He said.
During his state visit to the United States, President Ruto pushed for reforms at the United Nations top security decision-making arm.” I told this to President Biden when I was on a state visit to the United States and now the US has proposed two security council seats for Africa.” Ruto further stated.
The United States on Thursday proposed that the United Nations create two new permanent seats without veto powers on the Security Council. The proposal outlines that these new seats be guaranteed to Africa exclusively. The proposal also calls for the creation of a non-permanent seat reserved for small island nations.
Announcing the move was US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield.
“While Africa has three non-permanent seats on the Security Council, that doesn’t allow African countries “to deliver the full benefit of their knowledge and voices,” she said
“It’s what our African partners seek, and it’s what we believe is just.” the American diplomat reiterated.
“The United States does not support expanding veto power beyond the five countries that hold it.” Thomas-Greenfield said. “None of the permanent members want to give up their veto power, including us,” she said. “We think if we expand that veto power across the board, it will make the council more dysfunctional.”
Ruto seemed content with the proposal as he was expressing his gratitude to Washington. ” Now the US has proposed two security council seats for Africa. I am grateful for that. When the two seats are made available, we in Africa will decide how we will represent ourselves.”
At the United Nations General Assembly in New York last year, Ruto used his podium minutes to hammer the reforms message to the seated assembly.
“If any confirmation was ever needed that the United Nations Security Council is dysfunctional, undemocratic, non-inclusive, un-representative, and therefore incapable of delivering meaningful progress in our world as presently constituted, the rampant impunity of certain actors on the global scene settles the matter….CLICK HERE FOR MORE ARTICLE>>>
