THE United Nations General Assembly elected Somalia to the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Thursday for a two-year term beginning in 2025. Somalia, along with Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, and Panama, received the necessary votes to secure their seats.
‘It is both symbolic and a strong diplomatic status for Somalia to appear among the Security Council members, and this will help Somalia to have better access to member nations,’ Somalia analyst Abdiqafar Abdi Wardhere from Virginia, USA, told VOA. For the first time in over 50 years, Somalia will have a vote on decisions regarding global conflicts.
Wardhere highlighted the significance of the Security Council, stating, ‘The Security Council is the only UN body that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorising the use of force. Therefore, Somalia would get a vote that determines world issues and resolutions.’
Announcing the election results, UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis said, ‘In a secret ballot, the elected countries secured the required two-thirds majority of Member States present and voting in the 193-member General Assembly.’
Following the news, the United Nations in Somalia congratulated the Somali government and its people ‘on their country’s election today to a seat on the UN Security Council for 2025-2026.’
‘Somalia has come a long way over the past three decades on its path to peace, prosperity, and security,’ said James Swan, the UN Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative for Somalia. ‘Election to a seat on the Security Council is recognition of that commendable progress. Somalia’s experiences place it in a unique position to contribute to Council deliberations on international peace and security,’ Swan added.
The Security Council’s five permanent veto-wielding members are Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States. The five newly elected countries will replace Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland, whose terms end on December 31. Somalia and the other elected members will join existing non-permanent members Algeria, Guyana, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia, whose terms began in January.
According to the United Nations, the 10 non-permanent seats on the Security Council are distributed according to four regional groupings: Africa and Asia; Eastern Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Western European and other States group. The newly elected members were endorsed by their respective regional groups and ran largely uncontested.
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