African nations push for permanent UNSC seat Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is demanding a UN Security Council seat for an African country.
By Gift Phiri
Al-Jazeera - 26 Sep 2013
Harare, Zimbawe - Calls to include one the 54
African states in the world body’s security council are gaining traction
as the 68th session of the UN General Assembly continues at the UN
headquarters in New York. President Robert Mugabe has said he would
press for Africa to have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security
Council.
“We don’t understand why you have three countries out of five
countries on the Security Council as permanent members with a veto
coming from Europe,” Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs
minister said. “We all know that Europe is no longer such an important
part of the world as it was in 1945. And then you look at Africa,
50-plus odd countries and not a single country sits on the Security
Council as a permanent member wielding the veto, representing Africa and
African interests.”
Set up in 1946 by the winners of the World War II, the UN Security
Council comprises of 15 members, five of them - Britian, France, China,
the United States and Russia - are permanent, while 10 are non-permanent
members that serve for two years on a rotational basis.
The council is the UN’s most powerful body and helps shape
international law. It has the power to make binding decisions about war
and peace. Critics say it represents an international order that no
longer exists - that of France, UK, US, China and Russia as world
“gendarmes”.
To read more....
No comments:
Post a Comment