President Museveni has called for Africa

Speaking at the 9th Ministerial-Level Meeting of the African Union (AU) Committee of Heads of State and Government (C-10) on the reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) at Munyonyo, Museveni said Africa requires representation at all levels of the United Nations (UN) in order to protect Africa’s peculiar interests.

“The UN Security Council should have been and must be reformed. This is not a favour by anybody but a right of all peoples that inhabit the planet earth,” Museveni said.

Museveni’s speech then cast the spotlight on the current Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) at the UN General Assembly for constructive engagement on the Common African Position.

He reminded his audience of the African Union Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government (C-10), a committee setup by the African Union (AU) with the express mandate to advocate and canvass the African Common Position on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Museveni has a keen eye on Africa's sovereignty Pulse Live Uganda

In 2005, the UNSC recommended UN reform towards Africa getting two permanent seats on the Security Council with two veto rights, two more non-permanent seats on the council as directed by the AU, which would appoint the African representatives.

“We must be in that Security Council to ensure that it is not used negatively against Africa and that it is, instead, used positively for Africa and the rest of the World,” Museveni added.

Museveni reminded his audience of the murder of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Patrice Lumumba in 1961 and the invasion of Libya as but two examples of when the UN was used as trojan horse against Africa’s sovereignty. The invasion of Libya, he added, had the spillover effect of causing chaos in its neighboring countries.

Africa, he noted, has always received the short end of the stick in terms of diplomacy and this is why it needs to be given a presence on the Security Council. This, he believes, will stop a repeat of what went wrong in the past.

“The membership of African countries on a permanent basis would stop these mistakes. How and who should be the members of this body? It is already known that Africa should have two members of the Security Council on a permanent basis, elected maybe every four years by the African Union on a rotational regional basis. This would mean that for four years, we would have one country for North Africa and one country for West Africa,” Museveni offered.

The Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the UN, charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and approving any changes to the UN Charter.

The permanent members of the UN Security Council (also known as the Permanent Five, Big Five, or P5) are the five sovereign states to whom the UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. These five countries are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.