As South Africa’s two-year term in the 15-member UN Security Council comes to an end in December, Kenya is poised to replace Pretoria as the continent’s representative in the top UN body, the presidency has said.
Apart from Kenya, India, Ireland, Mexico and Norway were also elected as non-permanent members of the Security Council, the high office said on Friday.
The presidency said that the elected members replace outgoing members South Africa, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, Belgium and Germany on 1 January 2021.
Congratulating Kenya on its election to the body, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa “will continue to work closely with the existing and newly-elected members of the UN Security Council in ensuring collective multilateral action to maintain international peace and security.”
“As South Africa’s two-year term comes to an end on 31 December 2020, we wish the elected members a successful tenure on the Security Council — and we assure them of our support in resolving regional and global conflicts,” Ramaphosa said.
According to the president, this support would include “addressing the root causes of conflicts, and promoting inclusive political dialogue and peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the United Nations Charter and International Law.”
However, South Africa “remains deeply concerned about the emergence of unilateralism and its attendant threat to the International rules-based system,” Ramaphosa said.
NM/jn/APA