United Nations: African leaders from several countries have delivered strong speeches at the UN General Assembly, calling for an overhaul of the "outdated" UN structure and demanding permanent seats with veto power at the UN Security Council.
"The UN founding charter is outdated when it comes to representation. The most powerful post-World War II nations are still being rewarded with an almost totalitarian guardianship over the rest of the world," President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana told world leaders and diplomats at the UNGA on Thursday.
Mahama, wearing a traditional West African smock with a vibrant, multicoloured striped pattern, cited UN projections indicating that by 2050, over 25 percent of the world's population is expected to be from the African continent. He added that by the same year, one-third of all young people, aged 15 to 24, will reside on the African continent.
"So, you see, the future is African. Allow me to say this once again, a little louder for the people in the back: The future is African!" he declared, which was met with applause from the African delegates.
Mahama, referencing the UN charter's commitment to sovereign equality, argued that if this principle were upheld, "a continent as large and with as many UN member states as Africa would have at least one permanent seat on the Security Council."
"Additionally, veto power should not be limited to five nations, and it should not be absolute. There must be a way for the General Assembly to counter a veto. No single nation should be able to use a veto that is absolute to further its own interests in a conflict," he urged.
Ghana's leader echoed Mandela's 1995 UNGA speech in which the iconic South African leader called for the UN to reshape its structures to reflect diversity, stating, "Thirty years later, we African leaders are still making the same request: for a permanent seat on the Security Council, with the power of veto… I stand here in this exact spot, asking: 'if not now, then when?'"
'The world has changed'
The UNSC comprises five permanent members — the US, China, Russia, UK, and France — each wielding veto power. Ten non-permanent seats are regionally allocated.
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud urged the UN to address the "undeniable injustice" in the multilateral system, saying Africa, a continent of 54 sovereign nations, remains the only continent without permanent seats at the UN Security Council.
"This is unsustainable. Some of the most pressing issues that dominate the Council's agenda directly concern Africa, yet Africa has no permanent representation at the table," Mohamoud said.
Excluding Africa from permanent membership is unfair, outdated, and can no longer be justified, he said.
"True multilateralism and global legitimacy demand that Africa be fully included in the decision-making structures of the United Nations," President Mohamoud added.
Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo also called for restructuring the UN, saying "the world has changed" 80 years after the creation of the UN.
"We are no longer just the 51 countries who signed the UN Charter in 1945. Today, the United Nations is all of us: the 193 Member States, plus observer states, NGOs, civil society organisations, and other actors represented in this great Assembly Hall," he said.
To meet the challenges of the 21st century, he said, the UN must undertake urgent reforms that reflect today's geopolitical realities and global power balances.
Excluding Africa from permanent membership is unfair, outdated, and can no longer be justified, says Somali leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.
'Africa is demanding what is hers'
On Wednesday, Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto warned that Africa is no longer willing to wait on the margins of global governance, saying "while decisions about peace, security, and development are made without our understanding, perspectives and voice."
He said Africa has been seeking a permanent seat at the UNSC for 20 years and demanded "two permanent seats with full rights, including the veto, and two additional non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council."
Ruto questioned the current structure of the UNSC, stating that it has been addressing only the priorities of the major victors of World War 2.
Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, told the UNGA that the UN has been brought to a standstill by individual interests and straitjacketed by an institutional platform "which no longer reflects the reality of today's world."
"Talking about leaving no one behind becomes meaningless if millions remain marginalised in systems of dependency and exclusion," Mangue said.
UNSC is perhaps the clearest example of the extent to which the UN is out of step, he said.
"Without that reform, the Security Council will continue to be perceived as an exclusive club of historical privileges, powerless to respond legitimacy to legitimately rather to current threats," he said.
"Africa is demanding what is hers by rightful and permanent representation on the most important security organ in the world," he said, adding Africa seeks an international governance system benefiting everyone, not just a select few.
