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Chairing a meeting that his country convened, President Julius Maada Bio pressed a longstanding bid for African countries to get more council seats, including two permanent and potentially veto-wielding spots.
After decades of seeking a bigger voice in the United Nations ‘ most powerful body, Africa “cannot wait any longer,” Sierra Leone’s president told the Security Council recently.
Chairing a meeting that his country convened, President Julius Maada Bio pressed a longstanding bid for African countries to get more council seats, including two permanent and potentially veto-wielding spots.
Bio said that the time for half-measures and incremental progress is over and reiterated that Africa must be heard, and its demands for justice and equity must be met, adding that Africa has been an unquestionable victim of an imbalanced, outdated, and unrepresentative Security Council structure.
It wasn’t the first time the council has heard calls for expanding and reshaping its membership — and African countries aren’t the only ones that want more representation. While there’s a general sense that the council needs to change, discussions have bogged down over differences on how much to expand the group, what countries to include, and what powers it should have.
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The African Union, a regional group, has called for two additional elected seats — yielding a total of five — and two permanent ones for countries on the continent. Bio, whose nation currently holds the council’s rotating presidency, urged the group to get behind giving his continent priority in any structural changes.
