Russia wants AU pledge for UN seat

Πηγή: BusinessDay
By LOYISO LANGENI
Jan 24 2012

Russia says it will support a bid by African countries for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council only if there is "consensus and unanimity" in the African Union on which country will best represent the continent’s interests.

RUSSIA will support a bid by African countries for a permanent seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council only if there is "consensus and unanimity" in the African Union (AU) on which country will best represent the continent’s interests.

SA, Nigeria and Egypt are jostling to become permanent members of the UN Security Council even though the AU has not decided which country will represent the continent should such an opportunity arise.

SA, which has the rotating presidency of the council for this month, is pushing for it to be reconstituted to include at least two African countries among the permanent members.

Russia and China, which have permanent seats with veto rights on the five-member council, had been accused by developing countries of not showing — at least publicly — any appetite to expand the council to include other regions. France, the UK and US are the other permanent members with veto rights.

So far only France and the UK have embraced transforming the council by calling for African countries to be included as permanent members without veto rights as a starting point.

Provisions have been made for 10 UN members to be represented on the UN Security Council in rotation for two years.

"Our position on the reform of the council has not changed," Georgy Chepik, a counsellor in the embassy of the Russian Federation in Pretoria, said last week.

"We want to reform the UN Security Council but Africa must reach a broader consensus on which country is eligible for the seat. Sometimes we are being unfairly criticised for a lack of appetite to transform the council, but African countries must agree with each other before we can support a candidate."

A foreign policy analyst has questioned whether SA will have enough "scope" during its term to "shape council decision-making and champion its own particular emphasis on the African agenda".