Philemon Yang (centre), President of the seventy-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly, chairs the first plenary meeting of the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly. At left is Secretary-General António Guterres and at right is Movses Abelian, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management. As long as Africa does not have a permanent member on the Security Council, the underrepresentation gives a disproportionately low voice to the Continent, the writer says. – Picture: UN Photo
By Kim Heller
Africa’s role on the global stage was a key talking point at the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which took place in New York in September 2024. In his address at the Security Council, the President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio said that peace “requires an inclusive political process, economic development, and respect for human rights, and that cannot be achieved in isolation”.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke of how greater cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union is necessary to resolve the root causes of wars on the Continent. Ramaphosa also asserted that Africa stands ready to make a more significant contribution to a safer global order. He stated, as did several other African leaders attending the Assembly, that the United Nation’s Security Council needs to be “reformed as a matter of urgency” to ensure that the voices of all nations are reflected, heard, and considered.
Ramaphosa’s sentiments resonated with the theme of the 2024 UNGA which was, ‘Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations.’
This theme is at once a bold vision for a better tomorrow and a strong rally- call against the conflict ridden and insecure world of today which UN top gun, Antonio Guterres, describes as marked by “impunity, inequality, and uncertainty”. Guterres warns that we are driving modern civilisation toward “a powder keg that risks engulfing the world”.
But the call of leaving no one behind and working together is more message than mission. For now, Africa does not have a permanent member on the Security Council. This under-representation gives a disproportionately low voice to the Continent. It also limits the ability of the Security Council in dealing with the perilous and persistent African conflicts that engulf the Continent.
And it downscales the enormity and scale of the conflict in Africa. Statistics from the Uppsala Conflict Data Programme (UCDP) reveals how of the estimated 3.3 million people (combatants and civilians) who lost their lives due to armed conflicts between 1989 and 2022, approximately 1.7 million were in Africa. According to the Peace Research Institute Oslo, Africa remains the region with the most state-based conflicts per year.
The inadequate representation also undermines and undervalues the contribution African nations can make to world peace. The value of the African voice on international conflicts is exemplified by South Africa’s elevation of Israel’s assaults on Gaza to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In an ideal world, Africa should have a meaningful and influential seat at the UN table so that it could contribute to effective troubleshooting, peace keeping, conflict resolution and the rebuilding of war-torn countries, not only in Africa but across the globe.
But for now, this is a pipedream. For while African leaders are eyeing more power on the UN Security Council, the African Union’s mission of Silencing the Guns is nowhere in sight. The conflict in the DRC and Sudan have become full blown catastrophes, under the watch of the AU, and regional and Continental insecurity is continuously under threat.
In an excellent thought piece published in the Cape Times this week, economist and writer, Mushtak Parker, describes the UN Security Council as the most ineffective talk shop in the world. He asks whether the UN with its “nefarious Security Council” should be disbanded and confined to the ashes of history and the museum of failed diplomacy. “Should the world put the institution out of its misery and replace it with a new dispensation…?” Parker poses.
He writes: “The UN effectively operates as an Organisation of Disunited Nations (ODA) compartmentalised roughly along three strands of self-interest - the Anglo-Saxon west, spheres of influence, empowered by an undemocratic veto.”
African leaders should be asking the very same questions of the African Union. For its peace keeping efforts are failing, and the outlook for the Continent is bleak. A briefing from the International Crisis Group in February 2024 emphasised the need for the AU to explore new ways of addressing governance crises across the Continent, “work to save Sudan”, resolve the conflicts in Ethiopia, steady DRC and maintain diplomatic channels in the Sahel.
The International Crisis Group also identified the need for the AU to address Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, refresh its partnership with Somalia and prepare South Sudan for its elections, as key prioritise for the AU in 2024.
The AU is flagging badly on all these urgent issues. As the year draws to a close, peace is still elusive. And hopes for sustainable economic development continue to be snuffed out. It is nothing new. In 2016, the then AU chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, spoke of the need to end conflict and instability in the Continent in general, and Sudan in particular, in order to usher in a united, peaceful, and thriving Continent.
“We made a solemn pledge during the 50th anniversary that we shall not bequeath wars and violent conflicts to future generations of Africans, and to silence the guns by 2020 … we must all do more to honour this pledge. The Continent cannot stand by and witness the suffering inflicted on the children, women, men, and young people of South Sudan, inflicted on fellow Africans,” she said.
More than eight years later, too little has changed. The deadline to Silence the Guns has been deferred to 2030. Judging by the current waves of conflict, crisis and warring on the Continent, this target is unlikely to be reached. Liesl Louw-Vaudran, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group has emphasised the need for African countries to step up their commitment to the AU. She writes that the AU needs to show more muscle and unity and “refuse to be shown the door by conflict actors or mediators.” She has written that while the Continent’s leaders expect a lot from the AU, they often “hesitate to give it firm political backing or enough financial support.”
This weekend, the Thabo Mbeki Foundation will hold an inaugural Annual Peace and Security Dialogue (APSD), in partnership with the Institute for Global Dialogue, the Human Sciences Research Council and the UN Development Programme. One hundred and fifty African leaders, scholars and policymakers are expected to participate. The focus of this initiative will be on developing African-led solutions to internal conflicts, terrorism, and organised crime, within a supportive framework of regional and international partners.
Former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki said that the APSD seeks to enhance the capacity of African leaders, foster a culture of dialogue and co-operation. It is hoped that this initiative will serve to “catalyse action”. For African leaders, it should be more hands-on deck at the AU, then seats at the UN table. But one thing is almost certain. Too few hands will be raised for this domestic duty.
* Kim Heller is a political analyst and author of ‘No White Lies: Black Politics and White Power in South Africa’
** The views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of The African