Africa presses for two permanent UN Security Council seats as UNGA reform debate returns

Pinned summary · as of 04:19

As world leaders met in New York for the UN General Assembly, the question of Africa's place on the Security Council came back into focus. The continent has 54 UN members yet none holds a permanent seat, and both a Ghana Report opinion piece and the African Union (AU) argue for a minimum of two.

What we know

• World leaders were in New York for the UN General Assembly, and reform of the Security Council featured in the diplomacy around it.
• Africa is home to 54 UN member states but holds no permanent Security Council seat.
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said the Security Council no longer mirrors the world as it is today, according to the Ghana Report columnist and to The Insight News Online.
• A Ghana Report opinion piece by Bright Ofori and the African Union's stated position agree on one point: Africa should hold at least two permanent seats on a reformed Council.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  The AU says the two permanent seats should carry the same rights as those of the five current permanent members, with five non-permanent seats as well, and that Africa itself should pick who fills them. Its position, as The Insight News Online describes it, opposes the veto in principle but says that while it exists it should not stay the preserve of today's permanent members. No country has yet been chosen, and only The Insight News Online reports these details.
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  Mr Ofori argues that one seat should go to the African Union as a single voice, and the other should rotate every two years among regional groupings, naming ECOWAS, SADC and the East African Community. He says rotating among all 54 states yearly would take over half a century. This is a columnist's proposal, not an agreed plan.
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  In his opinion piece, Mr Ofori says that if seats were later given to individual states, Egypt, Ethiopia and Ghana would be the strongest candidates. He cites Ghana's peacekeeping, election observation and constitutional stability, and Ethiopia's hosting of the AU in Addis Ababa. Only The Ghana Report carries this view.
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  The columnist also questions whether South Africa, because of xenophobic violence against fellow Africans, and Nigeria, because of insurgency and banditry, are suited to permanent seats. He adds that both remain formidable powers. The Insight News Online instead says Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt are often named in the wider debate.
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  The Insight News Online reports that Mr Guterres called the lack of permanent African representation indefensible when he addressed African leaders in Addis Ababa in February, and at a press conference there asked for two permanent African seats. It says he noted that Europe holds three permanent seats and Africa none, but has not backed the AU's demand for new African vetoes. This account comes from one publication.
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  The Insight News Online also reports that changing the Council would need a UN Charter amendment, approved by a two-thirds majority in the Assembly and ratified by two-thirds of member states including all five permanent ones, and that states still disagree over the size of an enlarged Council and the veto. It says the Kremlin backs new permanent members while wanting the veto kept, and adds, citing Africa Briefing, that Washington in 2024 backed two African permanent seats but stopped short of new veto powers. These points rest on one publication.

Why it matters for Ghana

Decisions of the Security Council on peacekeeping, sanctions and conflicts often concern African countries, yet no African state holds a permanent seat. Ghana is a long-standing contributor of peacekeepers and is named by one columnist as a possible candidate, so the outcome could affect how much influence Accra has on such decisions.