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EZULWINI CONSENSUS GETS CHINA, FRANCE BACKING

09/10/2022 16:06:00 Mfanukhona Nkambule

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MBABANE –“Eswatini is of the ardent belief that Africa must have permanent representation in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).”

This was said by His Majesty King Mswati III on September 21, 2022 during the United Nations (UN) General Assembly held in New York, USA. His Majesty said the call for Africa’s seat in the UNSC was made by the African Union in 2005 in Ezulwini, Eswatini. The agreement was later known as the Ezulwini Consensus. It is named after Ezulwini, a valley in central Eswatini where the agreement was reached in 2005. The consensus was then adopted at an extraordinary session of the executive council of the African Union (AU) in March 2005 in Addis Ababa. “Our position emanates from the fact that every democracy has its exceptionality and that societies are founded according to different cultural norms and values. We will not tire of the consideration and belated adoption of this call by the UN to bring in the proper perspective on the African polity,” His Majesty the King said.

permanent members

The current permanent members of the UN Security Council are Russia, USA, China, UK and France. The stance by the superpowers was initially unclear, but China has openly called for the increase of representation of developing countries, as a matter of priority, in the reform of the UNSC. Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi advocates for the reforms. Wang made the remarks during his virtual meeting with Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani and Martin Bille Hermann, co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly. Political analysts have said that Africa’s relationship with China would work to its advantage as there was no way PRC could oppose the continent’s demand for permanent seats in the United Security Council. China wants Nigeria to be given a permanent seat.

In a statement to the UN General Assembly, Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said; France supported granting the G4 and Africa permanent membership and the British-French proposal of intermediate reform, which would last 15 to 20 years. The G4 nations, comprising Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan, are four countries which support each other’s bids for permanent seats on the UNSC. Africa is the second largest continent in the world, with Asia the largest, spanning 17.2 million square miles (44.6 million square kilometres). Political/Social Analyst Emmanuel Ndlangamandla backs the call for Africa’s permanent seat at the UNSC. He said it was important for Africa to have veto powers. Ndlangamandla stated that the current UN system was unfair as it made Africans look like children. “We have to veto policies that are not in line with the interests of Africans,” he said. A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action.

It must be said though that there is a group called Uniting for Consensus (UFC), known as the Coffee Club, which was set up to oppose possible expansion of the permanent seats of the United Nations Security Council. However, in a twist of events, the ministers whose countries are members of the Coffee Club, issued a statement in September 2021 to the effect that UFC shall engage constructively and in good faith to achieve a Security Council reform for all. Members of the UFC are Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Spain and Turkey.

primary responsibility

The Security Council has the primary responsibility, under the United Nations Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. During last month’s assembly, Chad also reiterated the call for Africa’s permanent seat in the Security Council. Chad’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Awatif El Tidjani Ahmed Koiboro, said it would ‘correct an historic injustice.’ Nigeria demanded two permanent seats for Africa. As His Majesty and Africa as whole have been intensifying the call for the implementation of the Ezulwini Consensus, there are people who may need to know what Africa would benefit from being a member of the Security Council? World Economic Forum noted that efforts to reform the 15-member UN Security Council have become an annual ritual in New York.

During the general debate at the general assembly in 2014, the issue was raised countless times. Members also called for the reform by 2015, since that year was to mark the 70th anniversary of the UN. That did not happen. This year, Africa reminded the UN general assembly of the Ezulwini Consensus, with His Majesty, not for the first time, touching on this issue. There are two issues of global concern, which the King has been brave to tackle at the UN General Assembly – the recognition of Taiwan and the UNSC reforms, with particular reference to the Ezulwini Consensus. Jakkie Cilliers, the founder and former Executive Director of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), published an article in the World Economic Forum webpage in which he pointed out that every effort at reform appeared to have fallen foul of power politics.

Cilliers currently serves as the chairperson of the ISS Board of Trustees and head of the African Futures and Innovation Programme. He said it would seem that all countries were in favour of reform until it got to the detail. Back then, after much lobbying, numerous meetings and increasingly convoluted proposals, the status quo was eventually retained. The expert in security studies and global affairs mentioned that bruised diplomats had to retreat to their respective national corners to contemplate a next round, and so the charade would have to continue.

two-thirds majority

It must be said that an amendment to the UN Charter to effect reform requires a two-thirds majority out of a total UN membership of 193. That would basically require a buy-in from 129 countries. Another hurdle is that the reforms will necessitate national legislation in each of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. So, how can the process be restarted when key countries – the five permanent members with veto rights in particular – have no interest in acceding to such change? He noted that the then chairperson of the UN Security Council reform, E. Courtenay Rattray embarked on a clean slate approach in April 2015, after several months of consultations. Instead of trying to unblock the impasse, he circulated a one-page ‘framework’ outline consisting of various headings, which member states were requested to populate with their suggestions on reform. By May 13, 2015, Rattray had received inputs from countries and groups that probably represent close to two-thirds of the member states of the UN.

These included input from 30 individual countries plus the Africa group, the L69 (representing countries from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific), the G4 (Germany, India, Japan and Brazil) and Guyana (on behalf of 12 small island states). These recommendations were summarised in a 24-page consolidated framework document. Impressive as the response was, opposition remains very strong. It is said that China rejected Rattray’s approach, deferring to an earlier negotiation text and was supported by Italy (on behalf of the Uniting for Consensus group) as did the 22-member Arab group. Although not rejecting the clean slate approach, Russia and the USA, in their separate responses, insisted that no reform should tamper with the prerogatives of the current permanent members, including the right of veto.

important swing region

The ISS noted that Africa, with 54 members, presented an important swing region in these negotiations after AU adopted the Ezulwini Consensus in 2005. Africa called for 11 additional members on the Security Council, thus proposing to expand its size from its current 15 to 26. The continent also wanted two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats that would rotate between African countries (one for each of the five regions in Africa, North, East, West, Central and South). Its position is that as long as the anachronism of the veto exists, any new permanent members should gain all existing privileges, including veto powers, explained the ISS. For its part the AU would ‘choose’ the two new permanent seats representing Africa.

The African position is, therefore, only likely to change once real reform and a balanced formula are on the table. Until then, Africa and like-minded groupings, such as the L69, may not have a majority, but can clearly block others. Cilliers said the lack of legitimacy of the council was a cancer that ate away at every institution within the broader UN system. It must be said that Africa is one of the continents not permanently represented on the Security Council. Therefore, the Ezulwini Consensus captures the African position on the debate as it argues that the Security Council is undemocratic and leaves smaller states at the mercy of major powers.

international peace

To address the imbalance between the developed and developing worlds on the council, the consensus pushes to secure ‘the three categories of freedom, which are freedom from want, freedom from fear and freedom to live in dignity’, noting that they are a sine qua non for international peace and security. There is a belief that freedom can only be achieved when the UN system is properly managed. The UN Security Council (UNSC) is composed of five permanent members with veto rights – China, France, Russia, the US, and the UK, also called the P5 – and 10 non-permanent members elected by the UN General Assembly (UNGA). The Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. However, in over seven decades since its formation, the UNSC has struggled to deal with and stop numerous international and civil wars. Most importantly, one or more of the P5 members have often been directly or indirectly involved in these wars and used their veto privilege to undermine UNSC action.

basic structure

The basic structure of the UNSC was negotiated in the mid-1940s when much of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean were colonised by countries of Western Europe.
This meant that a vast majority of the current 193 member states of the UN had no meaningful participation in negotiating the structure of the UNSC, as observed in the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration of the African Union. Therefore, reforming the UNSC is essential not just to perform its primary responsibility of keeping international peace, but for the legitimacy and primacy of the UNSC in the international security architecture. As calls for reform got louder, the UNGA established an Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) in 1993 to consider all aspects of UNSC reform and since 2008 to facilitate so-called ‘Inter-Governmental Negotiations’.

extremely slow

The progress at the OEWG/IGN (Inter-Governmental Negotiations) has been extremely slow so that it is often dubbed the ‘Never-Ending Working Group’. In its almost three decades of operation, the working group has identified the substantial differences among countries while managing to narrow a few. The proceedings in the OEWG/IGN are characterised by repetitive statements from groups of countries with divergent and often rigid positions.