Kenyan President William Ruto has called for reform of the United Nations Security Council, urging the creation of permanent seats for African countries on the powerful UN body.
Speaking during the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Ruto criticised Africa’s continued exclusion from permanent representation despite the continent accounting for more than a quarter of the organisation’s membership.
“Africa has 54 member states, more than a quarter of this assembly, yet no permanent voice in the body entrusted with the primary responsibility of international peace and security,” Ruto said.
“We are frequently the subject of its decisions, permanently discussed, yet permanently excluded.”
Ruto said the composition of the Security Council should reflect changes in the international system since the UN was established.
He noted that the council was created at a time when most African countries had neither independent representation nor a voice in shaping the institutions responsible for maintaining international peace and security.
“The world, ladies and gentlemen, has since transformed. The Council, the Security Council, has not,” he said.
The call is expected to feature prominently in the African Union’s efforts to secure greater representation for the continent within the UN system, an issue African leaders have repeatedly raised in recent years.
Ahead of the General Assembly, South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Mxolisi Sizo Nkosi, told local media that reform of the Security Council was an important part of Pretoria’s agenda.
Ruto’s remarks also echoed a call made a day earlier by outgoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Addressing the General Assembly on Tuesday, Guterres said a 21st-century Security Council without permanent African representation was “unjust and indefensible.”
The push for reform has centred on expanding both permanent and non-permanent representation on the council to better reflect the current global balance of countries and regions.
