Africa must find consensus on Security Council seats

The question of making the UN more inclusive and representative of all the peoples of the world has once again come to the fore.

This week at the UN General Assembly, South Africa, through President Cyril Ramaphosa, argued, not for the first time, for the African continent’s inclusion in the UN Security Council, whose composition has not changed since its formation eight decades ago.

What may have passed for a welcome concession on the need for Africa’s inclusion on the council, was marred by the apparent opposition to extend veto powers to the continent, currently reserved for the five permanent members.

This will be seen by some as reflective of a residual colonial mindset, where a few countries unilaterally decided the fate of much of the rest of the world. It also betrays a reluctance to countenance the reality of the world’s increasing multipolarity.

It is ironic that some of the countries balking at sharing veto powers, the US, Russia, France and the UK, are themselves participants in two of the world’s most devastating conflicts today — at a cost of thousands of lives and much suffering among civilians. In Ukraine the US and its allies seem determined to pour in as many weapons of war as it will take to achieve a Russian defeat, while Russia insists on continuing its illegal invasion of its neighbour.

In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the US gives arms and political support to one side, Israel.

The actions of these Security Council members stand in contrast to its primary mandate of global peacekeeping and the UN’s broader vision of promoting diplomatic solutions above military ones. The patent abuse of the veto right to further self-serving interests will raise the question of whether it should, in fact, not be scrapped.

Meanwhile, the challenge for our continent, notoriously divided by inter-state and regional rivalries, will be to find a consensus as to which two countries will eventually represent us at the UN top table.

Critically, Africa’s priority must be to end endemic wars, advance our developmental goals and mitigate the effects of climate change, among other pressing challenges.