Kenyan President William Ruto on Wednesday called for reform of the United Nations Security Council, urging permanent African representation on the body.
In his address to the UN General Assembly, Ruto lamented Africa’s continued exclusion from permanent representation, despite accounting for more than a quarter of the assembly’s membership.
“Africa has 54 member states, more than a quarter of this assembly, yet no permanent voice in the body entrusted with the primary responsibility of international peace and security”, Ruto said.
“We are frequently the subject of its decisions, permanently discussed, yet permanently excluded.”
The Kenyan president said the UN Security Council should reflect the world’s evolutions. He reminded the assembly that the body was created “at a moment when most Africans had neither a nation at the table, nor a voice in shaping the institutions that it would govern the peace. The world, ladies and gentlemen, has since transformed. The Council, the Security Council, has not.”
This year’s UN event ws expected to see the African Union push for a bigger voice at the world body, a campaign waged by several African leaders in recent years.
Ahead of the session, South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Mxolisi Sizo Nkosi, told local media that the reform of the UN Security Council was “an important part” of the country’s agenda.
Ruto’s comments also echoed a similar call from the outgoing UN Secretary-General a day earlier.
In his own address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Antonio Guterres said “a 21st century Security Council without permanent African representation is unjust and indefensible.”
