Reform of the Security Council: President Tebboune calls for handling the matter with “the greatest diligence”

OYALA (Equatorial Guinea) – The President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, affirmed that the unprecedented succession of crises and conflicts in the world required the international community, “today, more than ever”, to address the issue of the reform of the United Nations Security Council with “the greatest diligence”, calling for redressing the historical injustice done to the African continent.

In his speech, read on his behalf Friday in Oyala (Equatorial Guinea) by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Mr. Ahmed Attaf, during the work of the 5th Summit of the Group of Ten of the Union African Union (AU) concerned by the issue of Security Council reform, President Tebboune indicated that this summit “is being held in an international and regional context rich in challenges and risks, against the backdrop of a severe crisis which has struck the collective security system, especially since the United Nations Security Council was recently hit by almost complete paralysis.

“The frantic succession of crises and conflicts, their unprecedented accumulation and proliferation, in light of the inertia of the international community which is struggling to contain them, requires the latter, today more than ever, to deal with the issue of the reform of the Security Council with the greatest diligence and great rigor”, underlined the President of the Republic, specifying that this issue “is being raised today with insistence”.

He cited, in this sense, “the crisis situation which prevails in the African continent, particularly in the Sahelo-Saharan region which is suffering from the scourges of terrorism, organized crime and the spread of centers of tension and instability, in addition to the great tragedy that the Palestinians are experiencing, and which is taking on alarming proportions day by day, due to the inability of the UN to stop the crimes of the Zionist occupier and its violations of the rules of international law.

As a result, continues President Tebboune, this situation “brought to the surface the question of the reform of the Security Council”, noting that the issue of this reform “is no longer limited to the increase in the number of members emerging countries, led by Africa, but goes well beyond, because the sustainability of the multipolar international organization is now put to the test, given the scale of the logic of equality of forces , the phenomenon of polarization and the criteria of selectivity and discrimination in terms of the imperative respect for the rules of international law”, thereby deploring the fact that “severe tensions and large-scale splits now outline the contours of the system of international relations.

For the President of the Republic, “the unified position of the African continent should affirm the imperative to develop an approach which allows this central UN body to protect itself from tensions and polarization, and to focus more on the role assigned to it and the responsibility incumbent upon it, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, while insisting on a reform process which would restore to the Council its effectiveness and its capacity to act in the face of increased threats to international security and peace “.

Righting the historical injustice done to the African continent

In his speech, President Tebboune affirmed that, within the framework of government negotiations on the reform process of the UN Security Council, the unified African position “should insistently call for redressing the injustice done to the African continent, being the only absent and forgotten in the category of permanent members of the Security Council, and the least represented in that of non-permanent members, although it is concerned by more than 70% of the points and questions on the agenda of the Council.

“For Africa, it is essential that the Council reform project goes beyond increasing the number of members to include all questions linked, particularly, to the methods and modes of operation of the Council, to the use of right of veto and interaction between the Council and the central organs of the United Nations, convinced as we are, along with other parties, that the enlargement of the component does not necessarily guarantee, on its own, the “expected effectiveness, as long as the rules governing the functioning of the Council remain unchanged, not enriched, nor promoted”.

Africa “must demand, with insistence, that we imperatively comply with the United Nations General Assembly and the government negotiations carried out under its aegis, as a unifying and consensual framework for the management of the file of the reform of the Security Council, and therefore reject any attempt to call into question the credibility of this framework or to denigrate it in favor of parallel initiatives or plans promoted outside our UN organization”, maintained the President of the Republic, reaffirming in the same context Algeria’s permanent attachment and its constant commitment to the common African position, as stipulated in the “Ezulwini Consensus” and the “Sirte Declaration”.

President Tebboune also affirmed that Algeria “will work, during its next mandate on the Security Council, in coordination with its African brothers in the Republics of Sierra Leone and Mozambique, to make the voice of Africa heard within of this central organ of the United Nations, but also to defend the concerns, interests and aspirations of our countries united under the banner of the African Union (AU), in order to guarantee effectiveness, efficiency and influence in the defense of our just causes and our common interests and to convince our partners of the relevance of our law.

APS