President Macky Sall's candidacy for the office of UN Secretary-General rests on one constant: the institutions of 1945 must answer for the world of 2026. The Security Council, the body where peace is decided, still carries the geography of a war that ended eighty years ago. A continent of more than one billion four hundred million people deliberates there without a permanent seat.

A map of power fixed in 1945. Five permanent members, a veto, a composition that mirrors the order of San Francisco. Africa supplies a major share of peacekeeping personnel and accounts for a major share of the files on the Council's agenda. It weighs little on the decisions that concern it most.

The Ezulwini Consensus, a long-standing African position. In 2005 the African Union settled a precise demand at Ezulwini: two permanent seats with the corresponding prerogatives and five non-permanent seats. That position has not shifted. President Macky Sall defended it as chair of the African Union in 2022 and would carry it into the Secretariat, where the office-holder does not vote but shapes the debate through analysis and good offices.

A Secretary-General does not reform alone; the office keeps the pressure on. Amending the Charter belongs to the states, and the Secretariat does not stand in for them. What it can do is keep the question open, put a figure on the cost of inertia, and recall that an institution judged unjust by a growing share of its members eventually loses their allegiance.

Legitimacy is measured by representation. A Council that durably shuts Africa out of permanent decisions weakens the authority of its own resolutions. Reform is the condition of a word that binds everyone, not a favour granted to a continent.

Experience in multilateral negotiation. Twelve years as head of state and the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022 underpin these commitments. That experience explains why the vision statement filed with the United Nations frames its proposals as obligations: peace, security and development conceived together; a renewed multilateralism; stronger governance of the Organization.

Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.

The Ezulwini Consensus is a public document of the African Union. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net