China wants better representation of Africa in international bodies

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Wednesday (January 11th) that Africa should be better represented in the UN Security Council and other international organizations, after meeting with the Chairman of the Commission of the African Union (AU).

“We should strengthen the representation and voice of developing countries, especially those in Africa, in the United Nations Security Council and other international organizations”the minister said at the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Beijing-funded Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia and also the headquarters of the AU .

Qin Gang called for “a fairer and more equitable system of global governance”believing that “Africa should be a crossroads for international cooperation, not the ground for great power competition”.

“The African continent is excluded from international governance, and that is unfair”added the chairman of the AU Commission, Moussa Mahamat Faki. “For several decades now, we have been fighting for a reform of the international system as a whole and particularly on behalf of the United Nations Security Council. Africa refuses to be considered as an arena for power struggles. »

Permanent Headquarters for the African Union

The UN Security Council is made up of fifteen members, including five permanent members with the right of veto: the United States, Russia, China, France and Great Britain. Ten other countries occupy the other seats for periods of two years.

The Chinese minister is on a one-week trip to the continent, which will take him, after Ethiopia, to Gabon, Angola, Benin and Egypt. He also met on Tuesday in Addis Ababa with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

He was speaking on the eve of the arrival of his French and German counterparts in the Ethiopian capital as part of a mission to support the peace agreement signed on November 2, 2022 to end a fratricidal war of two years.

In September, US President Joe Biden said his country would support the allocation of permanent seats to Africa and Latin America, in addition to its earlier support for the inclusion of Japan and India.

Mr Biden has also backed a permanent role for the AU in the G20 and is planning a visit to sub-Saharan Africa, the first by a US president since 2015.