On 25 May, the world marks Africa Day, the anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa in 1963. The date recalls the ideal of a continent united, respected and fully engaged in world affairs. For President Macky Sall, it also recalls a demand.
Africa is home to 1.4 billion people and accounts for more than a quarter of the membership of the United Nations. African questions take up a large share of the Security Council's agenda. Yet in eighty years, the continent has never held a single permanent seat on that body. This anomaly weakens the Council's legitimacy and erodes public trust in the multilateral system.
President Macky Sall offers a clear answer: a "realistic and consensual" reform of the Security Council, including an African permanent seat on the Security Council and, beyond it, fair representation for all regions. He wants to repair the existing institution and make it reflect the world of 2026. This position stands at the heart of his vision for the United Nations.
On this issue, President Macky Sall speaks from experience. As Chairperson of the African Union in 2022-2023, he campaigned tirelessly for the AU's admission as a permanent member of the G20. That effort succeeded in 2023, and the African Union has since sat at the table of the world's twenty largest economies. His record bears this out: a just claim, pursued with method, can prevail.
Africa already has a common framework, the Ezulwini Consensus. Adopted in 2005, it calls for at least two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats for the continent. President Macky Sall treats it as the reference point for any negotiation on Council reform and invites the other regional groups to engage with it as a serious basis for discussion.
On this Africa Day, President Macky Sall's message fits in one sentence: correcting this anomaly is a condition for the effectiveness and credibility of the United Nations. A Security Council that mirrors the real world protects peace more effectively. That is the meaning of his commitment to a renewed multilateralism, in the service of all.