Africa’s Persistent Push for UN Security Council Representation

When the United Nations (UN) was founded in 1945, most of Africa was still under colonial rule and not represented as independent states. Today, the continent has 54 of the UN’s 193 member states, about 28% of the membership and more than 1.5 billion people, yet it still has no permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the ongoing General Assembly that a 21st-century Security Council without permanent African representation is “unjust and indefensible. This must change.”

Almost half of all the wars and crises the UN Security Council discusses are about Africa. Yet Africa has zero permanent seats.The Security Council has 5 permanent members – the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China who emerged from World War II as the victors and, in the process, wrote a rulebook that still gives them the biggest say in how the world is governed.

Under Article 27 of the UN Charter, to pass anything serious you need 9 votes, but all the 5 permanent members must agree. If one of them says “No”, the whole thing dies. That is called the veto, No expiry date and No performance review.

What does Africa get? Temporary seats. Two years and you go home. Right now Africa is represented by DRC and Liberia until 2027, and Somalia until 2026. Zimbabwe will come in from 2027. You sit politely for two years, you make speeches, then you rotate out.

The same song, different singers.

African leaders have been singing the same song for ages, with only the lead singers changing. The tune dates back to the 2005 Ezulwini Consensus which represents the African Union’s common position on UN Security Council reform. Africa wants at least two permanent seats and five additional non-permanent seats. And there is a catch on the veto: Africa has opposed the veto in principle, but says that if the veto remains, the new African permanent members must have the same veto rights as the existing five. In other words, Africa does not want permanent seats without the same power as the others.

Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was very loud on this. In 2012 he asked the General Assembly: “For how long will the international community continue to ignore the aspirations of a whole continent of 54 countries? Is this good governance? Is this democracy? And is this justice? He even threatened that Africa would quit the UN if they continued treating it like artificial members.

President Yoweri Museveni has called the Council a club of World War II victors and asked how 1.4 billion Africans can have no permanent voice in decisions about war and peace. Kenya’s Ruto says it every September: “A continent of 54 countries cannot remain at the margins. So the music is good. But there are awkward questions we don’t like to discuss in the bar.

Who will sit there?

The AU is supposed to decide. But will it be Nigeria? South Africa? Egypt? Kenya? Some people already say North Africans are more Arab than African. Others fear the seat will not be about Africa at all, The US may push Kenya or Nigeria, Russia and China may push South Africa, and the seat will become another playground for big powers.

Who will pay?

A permanent seat is not just a big chair. It also comes with a big bill.The UN budget is paid according to how rich you are. The US pays about 22%, China about 20%, UK about 4%, France about 4%, Russia about 2%. For peacekeeping they pay even more, the US about 26%, China about 24% and that’s because they have “special responsibility. That is hundreds of millions of dollars every year. If Africa gets a permanent seat, that country will be expected to pay a premium for peace keeping.

Are our biggest economies ready to pay that kind of money when we still have hospitals without medicine and schools without roofs? Are Ugandans ready to pay for Congo’s peacekeeping while our own roads need money?

Will veto help us, or just create more problems?

Look at how the veto is used. The United States has frequently blocked action on Israel. Russia has done the same on Ukraine and Syria. China has used it to shield allies and shape sanctions debates. France and the UK have their interests as well. The veto has been used to protect national interests more than pure principle.

The Council can look paralysed when the permanent members disagree. Does that inspire confidence that adding African permanent seats will suddenly make the body fair and effective, or will it simply expand the club of veto-holders from five to seven?

Amending the UN Charter to add Africa needs two-thirds of all UN members plus all 5 permanent members must agree to dilute their own power. Why would they? That is why this song has been sung every September since I was in P.7. So should Africa simply accept the hierarchy and just chill with the big boys as they wait for another world war and hope to fight on the winning side, or keep rotating temporary seats while the permanent five decide the big questions? Or is there a better way?

Maybe instead of putting all the energy in New York, Africa should add more strength at home. The East African Community, the African Continental Free Trade Area, the AU’s own peace fund – these are things it has control over. When Africa trades more within itself, stops internal conflicts, and builds infrastructure like a railway from Mombasa to Kasese, it gains real power.

A stronger continental voice makes it harder for outsiders to treat Africa as an agenda item rather than a decision-maker. That does not mean turning away from the rest of the world, Africa still needs strong multilateral relationships and partnerships beyond the continent. But those relationships carry greater weight when Africa comes to the table with greater economic integration, stability and collective strength.

The song has been sung for a long time. The next verse depends on whether Africa is ready for the responsibilities that come with the high table or whether it prefers to keep dancing to someone else’s tune.

But at least, team Uganda, we are not entirely empty-handed. By God’s grace, we may have the next Secretary-General, Ambassador Olara Otunnu, from our own land. Perhaps Uganda could skip the queue and report directly to the high table, to our Gamba Nogu, as we typically do. Until then, the music continues, the chairs remain five, and Africa is still waiting.

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