By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, (Bono), Oct. 5, GNA-Mr Raphael Godlobe Ahenu, an international activist and governance expert, has called on Africa to boycott the 2027 United Nations General Assembly.
“If there is no measurable progress towards permanent African representation on the UN Security Council, then Africa must use coordinated diplomacy to boycott the UN General Assembly,” he stated.
Mr Ahenu, also the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), a human rights and media advocacy Non-governmental Organisation made the call in a statement issued and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani.
His proposal comes as negotiations on Security Council reform enter a new phase, with the African Union pressing for at least two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats for Africa.
The 2027 General Assembly would be the UN’s 82nd session, scheduled to open on September 7, 2027, with the general debate beginning on September 21.
Mr Ahenu said Africa ought to establish a clear diplomatic deadline and consider collective action if negotiations continue without substantive progress.
“Africa cannot continue to attend the UN General Assembly annually to make speeches about reform as institutions continue to deny the continent permanent representation on the Security Council”, he worried.
He indicated that the UN Security Council currently has 15 members with five countries (China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States) being permanent members.
Mr Ahenu said the remaining 10 members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms with the permanent members holding veto power over substantive Council decisions.
Mr Ahenu justified that Africa could, however, be elected to the Council’s non-permanent seats, saying that in 2026, the African members were the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Somalia, serving alongside elected members from other regions.
He argued that: “Whenever decisions concerning Africa and the wider world are being made, Africa must be at the table.”
Mr Ahenu indicated that after 80 years of the UN existence, Africa should still not be asking whether it deserved a permanent voice in the institution’s highest security decision-making body”.
He noted that Africa occupied a significant place on the Council’s peace and security agenda, with conflicts and political crises across the continent frequently appearing before the body.
“This creates a structural contradiction because Africa is frequently at the centre of international peace and security discussions, however the continent is absent from the permanent architecture that determines those decisions.”
Mr Ahenu called African governments to place Security Council reform higher on their foreign-policy agendas and develop a common diplomatic strategy.
He asked the African Union (AU) to establish measurable benchmarks for progress, intensify engagement with the five permanent members, and broaden diplomatic support among other UN member states.
“Africa has 55 voices in the UN; those voices must be coordinated around a common strategic objective”, he stated.
“If Africa genuinely believes that its exclusion is a historical injustice, then African leaders must be prepared to attach diplomatic consequences to continued inaction,” he added.
Mr Ahenu concluded that: “The world must understand that Africa’s demand for permanent representation is not a request for political favour. It is a demand for equality in global governance”.
GNA
Edited by Linda Asante Agyei
By Dennis Peprah
Email: [email protected]