Push Security Council reforms, Zambia tells incoming General Assembly President

Zambia has urged Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa to include the reforms of the Security Council on his agenda when he takes up the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly this year.

Zambia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Dr Mwaba Kasese-Bota made the remarks when Mr Kutesa met and exchanged views with African Ambassadors at the African Union Permanent Observer Mission to the UN.

Mr Kutesa, whose candidature has been endorsed by AU Member States, briefed African Ambassadors about his priorities when elected president of the 69^th Session of the General Assembly.

This is contained in a statement First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at  the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations, Chibaula Silweamba, today.

In her contributions, the Zambian Ambassador expressed confidence in Mr Kutesa to be the president of the global assembly.

“We are very confident that the 69^th session is in very formidable hands. We are hopeful that when you take over the PGA, you are going to speak to the issues of inclusivity of the Security Council,” Dr Kasese-Bota said.

The 193-Member General Assembly is expected to elected Mr Kutesa by consensus next June

To this effect, the Zambian Ambassador said, “we would humbly request that you put the reforms of the Security Council on your agenda items. Africa has been engaged in dialogue over the reforms of the Security Council for over 30 years now and we really need to see a conclusion in terms of inclusivity of the Security Council.”

Dr Kasese-Bota assured Zambia’s support to Mr Kutesa.

Zambia and Namibia represent the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on the Committee of 10 – commonly known as C10 – which is an AU appointed group advocating for Africa to have two permanent seats on the UN Security Council, with veto powers, and two non-permanent seats to address the historical injustices that Africa suffered and to adhere to the geo-political realities of the modern times.

The 15-Member Security Council is composed of five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America — and 10 non-permanent members of which only three African. The non-permanent seats are held on a two-year regional rotation basis. Of the 193 Member States of the UN, 54 are African, meaning that the continent has the highest number of UN members.

Majority of the cases that the Security Council decides on focus on Africa. Therefore, African leaders have consistently demanded that the continent must have permanent representation on the council.