African Leaders Renew Push for Permanent UN Security Council Seats

African leaders used this week's United Nations General Assembly to renew their demand for permanent representation on the Security Council, arguing that the body's current structure no longer reflects global realities.

Addressing delegates on Wednesday, Kenyan President William Ruto said the principle of sovereign equality among nations stops at the Council's doors. He noted that while every member state holds one vote in the Assembly, five nations retain permanent powers that the other 188 do not — an arrangement he said suited the world of 1945 but not the present day.

Ruto recalled that most of Africa was under colonial rule when the UN was founded, with only four African states represented at San Francisco. The continent, he said, has since been transformed, while the Council has not.

Ethiopian President Taye Atske Selassie framed the demand as a question of justice, asking how a world with a conscience could justify denying 1.6 billion Africans equal representation. He described the push for comprehensive Council reform as a generational quest for truth and morality.

Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah called for the Council's transformation to be managed on the basis of equitable representation in decision-making. She cited the common African position set out in the Ezulwini Consensus and the SALT Declaration, noting that the Pact for the Future recognises Africa as a special case.

Most African leaders continue to back the position adopted by the African Union in 2005, which seeks at least two permanent seats for the continent along with additional non-permanent representation. Africa has 54 UN member states.

Botswana's President Duma Boko linked the reform debate to broader questions of respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and the equal dignity of nations regardless of size, wealth or military power. For smaller states, he said, a rules-based international order is an essential safeguard, warning that rules binding only the weak and principles applied selectively lose their authority.

The calls extended beyond the Security Council. As governments grapple with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, African leaders argued that developing countries should have a meaningful role in shaping international rules on the technology. Boko also said developing nations should have a greater voice in discussions on critical minerals, rare earth elements and energy resources that underpin emerging technologies, much of which are found in developing countries.

For many African leaders, the continent's exclusion from permanent membership raises wider questions about the credibility of the United Nations and its commitment to sovereign equality. The push reflects a longstanding demand for a greater role in decisions on peace, security, technology and economic resources that increasingly affect countries across the continent.