Africa at UNGA 81: Who Is Blocking a Permanent Seat, and Is Africa Even Eligible

Africa is eligible. In fact, it already sits on the Security Council: the African Group holds three of the ten elected non-permanent seats, rotating on two-year terms. What Africa lacks is a permanent seat, and that category is the problem. Only five countries hold it, and none is African.

As the 81st General Assembly opens, the continent is renewing an 80-year-old campaign. The African Union's common position, set out in the 2005 Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration, demands at least two permanent seats with the same privileges as existing permanent members, including the veto for as long as it exists, plus five non-permanent seats.

Kenya's President William Ruto used his UNGA statement to say Africa can no longer wait at the margins of global governance. Sierra Leone's Julius Maada Bio, who coordinates the AU's Committee of Ten on reform, pressed for full veto rights.

South Africa says it will use the ongoing intergovernmental negotiations to build support. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has again called the absence of a permanent African seat unjust.

So who is stopping it? Mostly the structure of the system itself. Analysts point to the veto-wielding permanent members, each of whom fears reform could dilute its own influence. Russia and China are described as rhetorically sympathetic to the Global South but reluctant to open the UN Charter to binding amendment.

France and the UK favour expanding the Council, and have promoted limits on the veto in mass-atrocity cases. Because any Charter change needs the consent of all five, one refusal is enough to stall it.

Africa's own divisions are part of the story. Twenty years after Ezulwini, the continent has still not agreed on who would actually hold its seats. Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt are the usual contenders, and some sub-Saharan capitals doubt Cairo would put AU priorities first.

One proposal is to tie the seats to the AU chair. The insistence on veto rights is another sticking point: Africa says it opposes the veto, but argues that if it exists, new permanent members must have it too, because a lesser seat would be second-class membership.

The outlook is a slow negotiation, not a breakthrough.

The item is on the agenda and the talks continue, but no reform text has been agreed. The gap between recognising the injustice and changing the Charter remains wide.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880

Sources
People Daily, "Guterres calls for permanent African seat on UN Security Council": https://peopledaily.digital/news/guterres-calls-for-permanent-african-seat-on-un-security-council

THEWILL, "UNGA 81: Give Us Our Seat": https://thewillnews.com/unga-81-give-us-our-seat-africa-takes-80-year-power-fight-to-un-security-council/

The Africana Voice, "At UNGA-81, Ruto Presses for Africa's Permanent Seat": https://www.africanavoice.com/all-news/unga/at-unga-81-ruto-presses-for-africas-permanent-seat-here-is-how-it-could-work/

Eurasia Review, on South Africa's push: https://www.eurasiareview.com/23092026-south-africa-pushes-for-permanent-african-representation-on-un-security-council/

Atalayar, "UN Security Council reform: Africa's demands and why the veto divides the powers": https://www.atalayar.com/en/articulo/politics/security-council-reform-africas-demands-and-why-the-veto-divides-the-powers/20260922111609229461.html

ACCORD, "UN Security Council Reform: Africa's Quest for Permanent Representation and Veto Power": https://www.accord.org.za/conflict-trends/un-security-council-reform-africas-quest-for-permanent-representation-and-veto-power/

CSIS, "Africa's Design for a Reformed UN Security Council": https://www.csis.org/analysis/africas-design-reformed-un-security-council