Nigeria, South Africa in race for UN Security Council seat
From Laolu Akande,
New York
NIGERIA may be in a straight contest with South Africa for a seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council, if the proposals of a high-level panel set up to recommend reforms at the world body are approved sometime next year.
But subtle manoeuvres may have begun for the slot as the panel set up by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan submitted its report last week in New York, United States.
Feelers at the world body suggest that Egypt may have no problem securing one of the two proposed slots for Africa, leaving Nigeria and South Africa to slug it out for the remaining seat.
The UN panel considered a wide range of issues, but the reform of the Security Council seems to be generating the greatest interest among diplomats at the world body.
Although the panel, which consists of former heads of states, foreign ministers, diplomats and security chiefs, did not specifically name any new country to join the elite Security Council, it proposed that its membership be expanded from 15 to 24.
The panel suggested two options to achieve this: One, to add six new permanent members and three non-permanent members with a two-year term. Two, each of the six new permanent members will come from Africa, Asia/Pacific, while one each will be from the Americas and Europe.
On the other hand, the expansion may be on a new four-year renewable term, in which semi- permanent seats will be regionally shared. In this option, eight semi-permanent seats will be added, with two for each region. The balance would be made up of non-permanent seats.
None of the options allows the new permanent or semi-permanent members to have the veto powers that the current five permanent members of the elite council enjoy today. But as permanent members, they will always have a place in the council's deliberations.
In considerations among diplomatic circles for which countries would fit the two proposed African slots, Nigeria, South and Egypt have come up very prominently. Backers of Egypt argue that being both in Africa and the Middle East puts it in a vantage position. They, therefore want it to get one of the slots for the African region. If that logic were to stand as many imagine it would at the UN, then the one other slot would have to be contested for between Nigeria and South Africa.
The fight for the slot may ultimately get dirty as there are claims already that Europeans would prefer South Africa to Nigeria, considering that South Africa has a fairly substantial European-originated population and western-vested interests more than Nigeria.
Those who back Nigeria insist that if two slots are to be given to Africa, then a wholly black African nation must get at least one. They say that there can not be any legitimate representation of African interests if the largest country in Africa, with the largest population of blacks in the world, is left out.
The other argument in favour of Nigeria is the fact that Nigeria is currently among the UN member-nations that contribute most to peacekeeping missions across the globe. Some others recall that Nigeria was in the forefront of the liberation of many African states, including South Africa.
The African Group at the UN is expected to take a stand on the matter and propose the two countries that will take the slots of Africa. Active in that group however is South Africa, whose mission to the UN has been at the forefront of sponsoring some activities of the African Group and playing a clear leadership role. Nigeria had always been in that mode at the UN until its mission to the UN became mired in financial crisis, which then greatly cut down the country's influence in the group.
Annan last week gave strong support to the eagerly awaited report on meeting the world's new and evolving security threats.
The report was presented to him also last Thursday by the chairman of an independent panel, former Prime Minister, Anand Panyarachun of Thailand.
Said Annan: "I wholly endorse its core arguments for a broader, more comprehensive system of collective security: One that tackles both new and old threats, and addresses the security concerns of all States - rich and poor, weak and strong."
The report is entitled: "A more secure world: Our shared responsibility", and will be sent to the UN General Assembly for consideration and action.
"The report offers the United Nations a unique opportunity to refashion and renew our institutions," Annan said, promising to quickly consider and implement specific recommendations that fall within his purview. He urged other UN bodies to do the same.
|
