African leaders and diplomats have resolved to continue pressing for United Nations Security Council reforms to include two permanent seats with veto power for the continent — a position that has held up the reform process in the past.
The statement was issued by 48 African heads of state and officials attending a meeting on Monday to decide which position the African Union should take on reforming the UN’s top decision-making body.
Security Council reform is a key issue to Africans, who feel theirs is the only continent without a strong voice on the 15-member council. Currently, 10 council members are elected for two-year terms, and five are permanent members with veto power — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.
Africa insists on having two permanent seats with veto-wielding power — in contrast to other aspiring members content to forswear veto power in hopes of persuading other permanent members to accept change.
”Full recognition of Africa in the Security Council means not less than two permanent seats, including veto,” the Africans reiterated in the statement on Monday. In full, the AU proposes a 26-member council, with six new permanent seats and five non-permanent ones.
As long as the veto right exists for some, the statement said, ”as a matter of common justice, it should be made available to all permanent members of the Security Council”.
That stance, however, helped push Security Council reform to the sidelines of a three-day UN summit in September.
An AU summit in August failed to reach a compromise with the so-called Group of Four — Japan, Brazil, Germany and India — which has proposed Africa get two permanent seats, but no veto power, on a 25-member council adding a total of six permanent seats.
Consensus needed
There were warnings at Monday’s meeting that Africa should reach a consensus quickly.
Security Council reforms would offer Africa ”a chance to move from a rather marginal role to a role of a major player”, said ambassador Hans-Joachim Daerr, a top German foreign ministry official.
But ”the window of opportunity for reforms does not stay open indefinitely”, Daerr said on the sidelines of the meeting in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. ”We could wait for another six to eight to 10 months. But after that, it would be too late.”
The AU will form a committee to present a united African position at the UN General Assembly, the meeting’s final statement said, but did not give details or a timeline.
The committee will also be mandated ”to present, canvass, advocate and seek support” for the African position with all other regions of the world, the statement said.
The three main contenders for Africa’s seats are big powers on the continent: Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa. Others also have expressed interest, including Senegal, Algeria and Kenya.
Before the September UN summit, Nigeria and South Africa had appeared ready to give up the right to veto, saying compromise might be necessary to get the permanent seats for Africa. — Sapa-AP