South Africa's tenure on UNSC and AU

I had in my previous entry- Behind the name DIRCO- indicated my intention of taking further the discussion around the structure of ‘international relations’ and its institutions, South Africa’s foreign policy, and the look at how far South Africa was able to pursue its interests when it enjoyed a non-permanent member seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the period 2019-2020 and when it was chair of the African Union (AU) in 2020. 
 
I was eager to recently learn of the Nelson Mandela University, in collaboration with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), public diplomacy lecture which was themed: Celebrating Multilateralism and South Africa’s role on the UNSC and Chairship of the AU, where DIRCO Deputy Minister, Alvin Botes, had delivered the keynote address.
Deputy Minister Botes had recognised the importance of the transformation of the UNSC in deepening multilateralism. Minister Botes said South Africa was calling for the transformation of the UNSC by advancing the Sirte Declaration and Ezulwini Consensus, which among other declarations, was that Africa must have a permanent presence at the level of the UNSC. “We do it understanding the realisation of having Africa represented every second year on the Security Council. That representation that is very ad-hoc does not allow for consistency,” he said.

The UNSC is currently comprised of 15 members, 10 of which were rotating non-permanent members, and five member states who were permanent and provided custodianship on peace and development in the world. The permanent five (P5) members were China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA).

Minister Botes further said the key focus of South Africa’s term on the Security Council had been to continue to play a meaningful role in strengthening the relationship between the AU and the United Nations (UN), in particular, the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) and the UNSC.

With regards to the chairship of the AU, Deputy Minister Botes emphasized that President Cyril Ramaphosa, had during his inauguration to the AU identified the following key priorities for South Africa; (i) Promote Peace and Security and advance the effort to Silencing the Guns; (ii) Support integration, economic development, trade and investment on the Continent; (iii) Infrastructure Development as a catalyst for the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); (iv) Advance women empowerment and entrepreneurship; (v) Support the good governance and democracy agenda; and (vi) Strengthen Cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations.

It was encouraging to hear the President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Volkan Bozkir, during his recent briefing to a high-level Security Council debate on upholding multilateralism, highlight the need for reform, and a more representative UNSC. 

Happy Africa Month!

The lecture was held on 12 May 2021 to discuss multilateralism and South Africa’s tenure on the UNSC and AU.
#DIRCO #IR #internationalrelations #NelsonMandelaUniversity #foreignpolicy #publicdiplomacy #southafrica #multilateralism #UNSC #transformation

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