President Paul Kagame has noted that the creation of two permanent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seats for African states should be designed in a manner that one is occupied by the African Union Commission and the other occupied by countries on a rotational basis. “One permanent seat would have to be held by AU Commission and the second seat by African Country on rotational basis [and] not held by any single country permanently!” the President wrote in a Thursday post on X, replying to a former Kenyan diplomat who had raised questions about the proposed seats. ALSO READ: US supports two permanent UN Security Council seats for Africa Thursday’s conversation about the proposal for UNSC permanent seats for Africa followed reports that the United States, a permanent member, would support two seats for the continent. The US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the US is supporting two permanent seats for Africa on the UN security body, and one seat to be rotated among small island developing states. ALSO READ: UN chief calls for permanent Africa Security Council seat The UN Security Council has significant responsibilities, including authorising peacekeeping operations, imposing international sanctions and determining how the UN should respond to conflicts around the world. There has been debate about the possibility of misunderstandings that would arise if the two permanent seats were to be given two countries. The Security Council – the five permanent members of which are China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – has long been criticised for representing the realities that prevailed at the end of World War Two when much of Africa was still under colonial rule. The 10 non-permanent members of the body are allocated by region, but unlike the five permanent members, they do not have the power of veto. Any changes to the Security Council membership is done by amending the founding UN Charter. This needs the approval and ratification by two-thirds of the General Assembly, including the Security Council's current five veto powers. The 193-member UN General Assembly has annually discussed reform of the Security Council for more than a decade. But momentum has grown in recent years as geopolitical rivalries have deadlocked the council on several issues, particularly after permanent veto-wielding member Russia invaded Ukraine. In August, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the time for Africa's permanent representation on the Security Council was long overdue. Africa must be heard, and its demands for justice and equity must be met, he said. “We cannot accept that the world’s preeminent peace and security body lacks a permanent voice for a continent of well over a billion people - a young and rapidly growing population - making up 28% of the membership of the United Nations, Guterres noted.
