Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa has called for the reservation of two permanent seats for African countries to present their issues on the UN Security Council.
Speaking at the 63rd Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) – European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly u in Brussels, Tayebwa said that it is a shame that Africa, which is three times bigger than Europe, is not represented at the UN Security Council.
Tayebwa also called for the African Union to be given a more significant voice at the UN’s International Peace and Security Organization.
He said Uganda and her friendly countries would press for Africa to have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
“The Security Council has been reduced to settling quarrels between big states and superpowers but when it came to the invasion of Africa, specifically, the invasion of Libya, you did all you could and you made a mess. Now you have seen one of your own, whom you considered an ally in the Security Council, what he has done to one of your European countries and you’re waking up. Maybe we need more of these examples for you to wake up,” Tayebwa said, adding that if the invasion of Ukraine by Russia had been done much earlier, “you would have listened to us much earlier”.
Tayebwa explained that Security Council membership where European countries have three out of the five seats since 1947 has no standing in any modern society
“There are no permanent members from Latin America or Africa, and China is the only Asian member. That damages the legitimacy of the Security Council if it is seen as a forum dominated by the West and Great Powers, where the Global South and smaller states are marginalized,” Tayebwa said, telling the assembly president that: “this has no standing in any modern society. We can’t continue living in the era of 1945 before most of us were born,” he added.
At several AU assemblies, Uganda has asked African countries not to accept anything less at the UN Security Council reforms, until the continent is granted at least two permanent seats.
Uganda’s position is that like the rest of other developing regions of the world are not asking for favors when they demand adequate representation. He said it was “obvious” that reforms will make the global body inclusive and relevant to the current realities.
