Kenya has renewed pressure for a major overhaul of the United Nations Security Council, backing a larger chamber and stronger African representation as the United States and other major powers defended a more limited reform agenda.
Kenyan UN Ambassador Lazarus Ombai Amayo told delegates the 15-member council should grow to “no less than 26 members.” He said Africa should be “fully represented” in the body responsible for international peace and security.
The debate formed part of a long-running push to reshape the council’s structure so it better reflects current global politics. Tanzania and South Africa also pressed for change, with Tanzanian Ambassador Modest Jonathan Mero criticizing the slow pace of reform and South African envoy Jerry Matthews Matjila noting that the council’s only expansion in 53 years had added only non-permanent seats.
Mero argued that Africa should receive two permanent seats on the council “with all the prerogatives and privileges, including the right of veto.” That demand goes directly to the most sensitive issue in Security Council reform, because the veto remains reserved for the five permanent members since the UN’s inception in 1945: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US.
Washington rejected any change to that arrangement. US delegate Robert Hunter said the US would support only a “modest expansion” of membership, without proposing a specific size for a reformed council.
Russia also signaled resistance to a broad restructuring of the council’s membership and working methods. Moscow’s delegate Alexey Boguslavs defended the veto, saying its use had more than once kept the UN from getting involved in “dubious enterprises.”
China took a less confrontational line, offering a more conciliatory tone on the question of council composition.
