Time for Africa at the Security Council
Monday 31st May the 25th Africa-France summit was held in Nice, France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy agrees and expressed the idea that Africa should have a permanent seat in the UN Security Council and promised to push through the change next year, when France heads the G8 and G20.
Sarkozy said that global issues cannot be discussed without Africa any longer. African nations, actually, have been asking for two rotating permanent seats with veto power and more non permanent seats since 2005 but until now only China, US, Russia, Britain and France have permanent seats, while only two rotating seats are reserved for ten African nations.
Sarkozy’s approach stems from his view that ‘Africa is our future and will be a principle reservoir for world economic growth in the decades to come’. From the African point of view, however, a shift into an increased involvement in global decision is necessary.
France and Italy have indeed been accused of embarrassing the G8 summit, by not being able to fulfill pledges made to Africa at Gleneagles in ‘05. After the hundreds of billions spent to shore up economies following the financial crises, the G8 nations have been unable to meet the ambitious aid plan agreed in ‘05. With many African nations keeping relatively stable economies, it is right to work on Sarkozy’s proposal and claim first row seats at the UN Security Council.
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