The president said any suggestion that South Africa would pull rank in the process was misplaced
Africa will decide as a collective who will represent the continent in the United Nations Security Council when the recent offer of permanent seats becomes a reality, President Cyril Ramaphosa told the National Assembly on Thursday.
He said any suggestion that South Africa would pull rank in that process was misplaced.
“In the end it is the African Union that is going to take that decision, as set out in the Ezulwini Consensus on which countries should be represented on the UN Security Council,” he said, referring to a policy position the AU adopted in 2005.
“The decision is not going to be taken by South Africa, nor will it be taken by a single particular country. It will be taken by the African Union and it will be taken on the basis of representivity as well as on the basis of capacity,” he said.
“We are but one of the many countries on our continent, much as our voice is quite vocal, so are many other countries’ voices vocal as well.”
The statement follows suggestions that South Africa recently defied its neighbours in the 15-nation Southern African Development Community bloc in selecting a consensus candidate for the presidency of the African Development Bank, which his office refuted this week.
The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, in September said Washington would support giving Africa two permanent seats on the security council, but the overture does not extend to veto rights for the new members.
Ramaphosa stressed that the proposal, which will now form the basis for text-based negotiations at the UN, did not match the demand in this regard that African nations formulated nearly 20 years ago.
“There is no clarity on the issue of a veto,” he said, before describing the decision that further negotiations would happen in writing as “significant”.
Africa’s position is that the continent should be given two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats on the security council.
“It calls for the abolishment of the veto right and prerogative that currently is held by five members. But it also says that for as long as the veto exists, it is a privilege and a prerogative which should be extended to all new permanent members as well,” Ramaphosa said.
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola last week said Pretoria regarded veto rights in the security council as “obsolete” but that it was still processing the proposal and preparing for the debate ahead.
He acknowledged that it was inevitable that African nations would hold different views on whether to accept the proposal in its present form, or hold out for a better offer.
“Obviously that debate will happen. It has to be robust, it must happen, we must confront it. It is a reality. It is now on the table. We have to engage as the continent and come up with a position that acknowledges the evolving reality that we are in,” he told the Mail & Guardian.
“But I don’t think we should see it as a divide when it does happen because obviously differences of opinion will arise. I think that we, at the end of that debate, will be able to find consensus on the modalities.”
South Africa has already started discussions in this regard with fellow African states.
The negotiations at the UN could take years, but Ramaphosa said South Africa would use its upcoming presidency of the G20 to continue to argue the urgency of reforming the UN and other multilateral institutions to afford Africa and the rest of the Global South a meaningful role.
“The international political and economic system remains unequal and unjust. It reflects the world as it was 70 years ago, not as it is today,” he said.
“We therefore continue to call for the urgent reform of the security council based on the African common position.”
He said he saw hosting the first G20 summit on African soil “as a great platform for us as South Africa to promote the interest of our continent and the Global South as well, so the issue of representivity in global institutions is going to be quite prominent”.
As he did at the UN General Assembly in September, he accused the security council of failing in its mandate.
“In its current configuration the UN Security Council has failed in the execution of its charter mandate because of narrow national interests that are pursued and the quest for further geo-political influence.”
It has failed to prevent or resolve several damaging conflicts in recent years, notably those in the Middle-East, Ukraine, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ramaphosa said.
“The short-comings of the UN Security Council have had a disastrous impact on the African continent and the Global South, which in many ways often experiences the economic and social effects of conflicts that are taking place.”
Ramaphosa stressed that African countries today make up a quarter of the 193 UN member states, “yet not a single African country has a permanent seat at the table where decisions on the maintenance of international peace and security are made”.
“This is a particular concern when many of the issues on the agenda of the UN Security Council relate to matters on the African continent.”