Opinion / Columnist
President Mugabe's UN Security Reform stance laudable
03 Feb 2016 at 08:04hrs | Views
Some private media houses have chosen to ignore the good work that President Robert Mugabe did as the AU Chairperson only to shame themselves by saying that his big brother stature is what makes the AU ignore the economic situation in the country while keeping him at the helm of the AU circles through his new role as a Rapporteur of the AU Bureau for 2016.
It is surprising that the private media turns a blind eye on the good work of President Mugabe who during his AU tenure as the Chairperson has openly told the west to reform the Security Council and also superintended in various summits and meetings that sought to bring sanity in the African continent. The President was man enough to tell the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki Moon in the recently held AU Heads of States and Governments Summit in Ethiopia that he tells the superpowers that Africa needs the Security Council to be reformed. The President made it clear that every member of the UN General Assembly should be treated equally as the era of colonial rule is over.
As such the AU governments should really take seriously the call by President Mugabe, the former AU Chairperson that the Security Council should reform as to accommodate the interests of the other countries that make up the UN. It is not proper for the UN Security Council to remain superintended by only five member countries as if they are supreme beings to the extent that they are unchallengeable. While it is known that the formation of the UN was precipitated by the end of the Second World War (WW 2) in which those countries were involved but it is wrong for them to personalise that UN arm.
So the call by President Mugabe that the UNSC should be reformed has to be embraced by all developing countries who feel being marginalised in the international community. The UN has been monopolised by some few member countries who do not want it to be reformed. African countries who constitute a larger number of the UN membership have no permanent members there in the UNSC. Such a scenario has seen African voices being marginalised and not heard even in situations where decisions affect the African continent.
African leaders should stand guided by Pan-Africanism that give the concept of Ubuntu and unhu as the way forward in deciding and planning what the African continent needs to do. In actual fact Africa should now be vocal in championing the needs for the Africans in the international community especially when they attend the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
The road that have been championed by the former Chairman of the AU and SADC, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, that reforms in the UNSC should be made as to accommodate African interests should be taken aboard and seriously by all African states. As such, that move should be the voice of any African leader to the western countries as to force the UN to be accommodative of all countries' interests regardless of geographical and economic standing of that particular country.
It is now refreshing that the AU in the recent years has managed to choose ten (10) countries that have become to be known as the Committee of 10 (C10) to champion the negotiations with the super powers so that they allow an African country to have a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. The committee of 10 which has already started the ball rolling more than three years ago is currently having meetings with various countries which are in the UNSC as a way of making sure that they accept the continent`s plea.
For that reason the AU heads of states and governments should not fold their hands and let those super powers to get away with the monopoly in the handling of the UNSC affairs but they should fight for their rights to be heard.
The UNSC which comprises of Britain, China, France, Russia and United States of America (USA) has been comprised with those countries since the formation of the UN in 1945 making it impossible for other countries to get their voices heard. So the C10 which comprises of Algeria, Congo DR, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leorne and Zambia should be commended for such a good work which they are currently doing in confronting the UNSC so that it is reformed.
As such, all African states should remain united and always speak with one voice during international summits or meetings so that African interests are not trampled upon. The current Chairman of the AU President Idriss Deby Itno of Chad should carry on with the gospel of preaching to the world about the need for the UNSC to be reformed. President Idriss must make sure that he is in line with what his predecessor President Robert G Mugabe has been saying throughout his AU tenure of office as the Chairman.
Actually it is not the UNSC council which only needs to be reformed but the International Criminal Court (ICC) needs urgent scrutiny as well since it has also been targeting African Head of States and other prominent African individuals in its investigations of the war crimes` perpetrators. While there is no one who can condone those alleged to have perpetrated violence against their citizens but the fact it is only the developing countries' leaders who are always targeted by the ICC calls for it to be reformed.
Since its formation on 17 July 1998, under the Rome Statute, the ICC has never subpoenaed developed countries' leaders who allegedly committed crimes against humanity to appear before it. Some former and current African leaders have been subpoenaed to appear against this ICC to answer changes against humanity. Leaders like Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto spent most of their early days of their reign after winning elections in that country, under the ICC investigations over the violence that killed many people in Kenya after the 2008 elections. Currently former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is under trial over the alleged war crimes he committed after presidential elections of 2010. The ICC looks like it was formed to deal with African leaders only as it turns a blind eye on developed countries who could have done similar things like leaders of the developing nations.
In fact leaders like former USA President George W Bush and his counterpart United Kingdom former Prime Minister Tony Blair stand out as the real candidates from the developed countries who could have been arrested and appeared before the ICC to answer changes of crimes against humanity. Those two former leaders in 2003, killed the innocent people in Iraq when they invaded that country saying Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction which turned out to be false.
As such the AU should stand firm and continuously call for the total reform of both the UNSC and the ICC so that all member states that constitute the global village in the UN are not marginalised.
It is surprising that the private media turns a blind eye on the good work of President Mugabe who during his AU tenure as the Chairperson has openly told the west to reform the Security Council and also superintended in various summits and meetings that sought to bring sanity in the African continent. The President was man enough to tell the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki Moon in the recently held AU Heads of States and Governments Summit in Ethiopia that he tells the superpowers that Africa needs the Security Council to be reformed. The President made it clear that every member of the UN General Assembly should be treated equally as the era of colonial rule is over.
As such the AU governments should really take seriously the call by President Mugabe, the former AU Chairperson that the Security Council should reform as to accommodate the interests of the other countries that make up the UN. It is not proper for the UN Security Council to remain superintended by only five member countries as if they are supreme beings to the extent that they are unchallengeable. While it is known that the formation of the UN was precipitated by the end of the Second World War (WW 2) in which those countries were involved but it is wrong for them to personalise that UN arm.
So the call by President Mugabe that the UNSC should be reformed has to be embraced by all developing countries who feel being marginalised in the international community. The UN has been monopolised by some few member countries who do not want it to be reformed. African countries who constitute a larger number of the UN membership have no permanent members there in the UNSC. Such a scenario has seen African voices being marginalised and not heard even in situations where decisions affect the African continent.
African leaders should stand guided by Pan-Africanism that give the concept of Ubuntu and unhu as the way forward in deciding and planning what the African continent needs to do. In actual fact Africa should now be vocal in championing the needs for the Africans in the international community especially when they attend the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
The road that have been championed by the former Chairman of the AU and SADC, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, that reforms in the UNSC should be made as to accommodate African interests should be taken aboard and seriously by all African states. As such, that move should be the voice of any African leader to the western countries as to force the UN to be accommodative of all countries' interests regardless of geographical and economic standing of that particular country.
It is now refreshing that the AU in the recent years has managed to choose ten (10) countries that have become to be known as the Committee of 10 (C10) to champion the negotiations with the super powers so that they allow an African country to have a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. The committee of 10 which has already started the ball rolling more than three years ago is currently having meetings with various countries which are in the UNSC as a way of making sure that they accept the continent`s plea.
For that reason the AU heads of states and governments should not fold their hands and let those super powers to get away with the monopoly in the handling of the UNSC affairs but they should fight for their rights to be heard.
The UNSC which comprises of Britain, China, France, Russia and United States of America (USA) has been comprised with those countries since the formation of the UN in 1945 making it impossible for other countries to get their voices heard. So the C10 which comprises of Algeria, Congo DR, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leorne and Zambia should be commended for such a good work which they are currently doing in confronting the UNSC so that it is reformed.
As such, all African states should remain united and always speak with one voice during international summits or meetings so that African interests are not trampled upon. The current Chairman of the AU President Idriss Deby Itno of Chad should carry on with the gospel of preaching to the world about the need for the UNSC to be reformed. President Idriss must make sure that he is in line with what his predecessor President Robert G Mugabe has been saying throughout his AU tenure of office as the Chairman.
Actually it is not the UNSC council which only needs to be reformed but the International Criminal Court (ICC) needs urgent scrutiny as well since it has also been targeting African Head of States and other prominent African individuals in its investigations of the war crimes` perpetrators. While there is no one who can condone those alleged to have perpetrated violence against their citizens but the fact it is only the developing countries' leaders who are always targeted by the ICC calls for it to be reformed.
Since its formation on 17 July 1998, under the Rome Statute, the ICC has never subpoenaed developed countries' leaders who allegedly committed crimes against humanity to appear before it. Some former and current African leaders have been subpoenaed to appear against this ICC to answer changes against humanity. Leaders like Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto spent most of their early days of their reign after winning elections in that country, under the ICC investigations over the violence that killed many people in Kenya after the 2008 elections. Currently former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is under trial over the alleged war crimes he committed after presidential elections of 2010. The ICC looks like it was formed to deal with African leaders only as it turns a blind eye on developed countries who could have done similar things like leaders of the developing nations.
In fact leaders like former USA President George W Bush and his counterpart United Kingdom former Prime Minister Tony Blair stand out as the real candidates from the developed countries who could have been arrested and appeared before the ICC to answer changes of crimes against humanity. Those two former leaders in 2003, killed the innocent people in Iraq when they invaded that country saying Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction which turned out to be false.
As such the AU should stand firm and continuously call for the total reform of both the UNSC and the ICC so that all member states that constitute the global village in the UN are not marginalised.
Source - John Mukumbo
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