Ban Ki-moon lectured on Security Council reform

On an official visit to Nigeria, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon got an earful from president Goodluck Jonathan about the lack of a permanent African Security Council seat: "The expansion of the Security Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories is necessary. A situation where Africa is totally excluded from the permanent membership of the ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

On an official visit to Nigeria, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon got an earful from president Goodluck Jonathan about the lack of a permanent African Security Council seat:

On an official visit to Nigeria, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon got an earful from president Goodluck Jonathan about the lack of a permanent African Security Council seat:

"The expansion of the Security Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories is necessary. A situation where Africa is totally excluded from the permanent membership of the Council is unfair and untenable," Jonathan said.

"It is therefore my hope that the U.N. system will support Nigeria’s quest for permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council," he said in a statement.

Ban responded, as he must, that Security Council reform is a matter for the member states, not for the Secretary-General. But he could have responded with a question to Jonathan: would Nigeria prefer that South Africa have a permanent Council seat or that no African country have one? I cannot see Nigeria being the leading African candidate for a permanent seat for some time to come. 

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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