Africa demands veto rights on UN Security Council

The US supported creating two permanent UN Security Council seats for African states and one seat to be rotated among small island developing states. However, Legalbrief reports that it is opposed to them wielding veto power over council resolutions, unlike the current permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the US. The 79th UN General Assembly (UNGA79) later this month will bring together world leaders against a backdrop of growing climate change challenges, high-stakes conflicts, and continuing poverty and hunger. And it will do so under the presidency of former Cameroonian Prime Minister Philémon Yang, elected in June to the job. News24 reports that he was sworn in last week and took over from Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hit back, saying the refusing of veto rights would make them ‘second-class citizens’. He argued that denying a continent of 1.3bn people full representation on the Security Council diminishes the role of the UN. ‘We demand and require that we should have serious participation on the UN Security Council. We cannot have a second-class participation as Africa on the UN Security Council,’ he said. The Sunday Tribune reports that he said the decision on which nations should hold the two seats would need to be up to the AU.

The move comes as the US seeks to repair ties with Africa, where many are unhappy about Washington’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, and to deepen relations with Pacific Island nations important to countering Chinese influence in the region. African nations already have three non-permanent seats on the Security Council, allocated on a rotating basis for two-year terms. The Sunday Tribune notes that any change in membership would first require adoption and ratification by two-thirds of the 193 member states. When the UN was founded in 1945, the Security Council had 11 members. This increased in 1965 to 15 members, made up of 10 elected states serving two-year terms and five permanent veto-wielding nations: Russia, China, France, the US and Britain. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden is planning a trip to Angola in the coming weeks, fulfilling an earlier promise that would make him the first US head of state to visit sub-saharan Africa since Barack Obama in 2015. The trip, which is still being finalised, is likely to occur after the UN General Assembly meeting at the end of September and before the 5 November presidential election. 

In a Sunday Tribune analysis, Abbey Makoe argues that reforms to the Security Council are long overdue. ‘The body is archaic, and over time it has proven to negate the very essence of its formation following Germany’s menacing warmongering and killing machinery that saw Hitler attempt to usurp control of the global architecture. The US grew markedly stronger in the aftermath of WWII, and Washington’s imperial tentacles stretched far and wide, until this day. The refusal by the US to accept Africa as equal members in the UNSC, with the same powers that the rest of the P5 members have, exposes the lingering fault lines in Washington’s foreign policy. It reveals Washington’s unmitigated desire to continue the subjugation of Africa and, by extension, the Global South. It paints a picture of the world’s only remaining superpower that hankers for the status quo. The proposal to have two new additions to the UNSC with limited powers is a sham. It is a disingenuous gesture and devious in every respect.’ The author argues that Africa must unite in condemning the stance of the US. ‘The continent is not asking for crumbs at the table of the UN’s decision-making organ. Africa demands its rightful place, with all privileges that have been denied a continent that represents 1.4bn from Cape to Cairo, Morocco to Madagascar. The era of Africa being “affirmed” by the West is long past. Africa deserves its rightful place among the nations of the world. We need equal representation at the UNSC, complete with the requisite privilege that is the veto power. Until all nations of the world are treated as equal regardless off the size of their economies or geographical location, instability and mistrust will persist throughout the corridors of the UN Headquarters in New York.’

In another significant development, South Africa will assume the Presidency of the G20 and host the Summit for the first time on African soil in December. The G20 is arguably the most important global agenda-setting body outside formal UN structures. The Sunday Tribune reports that SA is presented with an opportunity to champion the aspirations of developing countries and emerging market economies and lead the development agenda of the African continent within the framework of the G20. The recent leadership of the G20 by countries of the Global South – Indonesia (2022) India (2023), and Brazil (2024) has ensured that the developmental agenda of the South is prioritised, and SA’s Presidency in 2025 will continue to build on the efforts of these key countries of the Global South. SA will hand over the Presidency of the G20 to the US for 2026, which places us in a unique position with a significant responsibility to ensure that the agenda of the Global South is not diluted but consolidated by the time the US takes over.