What changed
Africa’s campaign to restructure the United Nations Security Council should continue, argues Babafemi A. Badejo. But if reform moved forward today, African governments could face a difficult question: which countries would take the two proposed permanent seats, even without veto power?
No agreement or timetable for reform is reported. Nor is there a settled list of candidates.
Why it matters
A permanent seat would give African governments a lasting place in the Council’s central decisions. But the selection process could expose divisions the reform campaign currently keeps in the background.
The hard part is not only winning new seats. It is deciding who speaks for a continent of governments with different priorities and interests. That choice could test African unity before any new arrangement is created.
The argument for reform therefore has two tracks: keep pressing for a stronger African presence, while building agreement over how that presence would be chosen. Without the second, a victory at the United Nations could arrive with its own dispute already attached.
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