On 25 May, the world marks Africa Day. The date commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa in 1963. It recalls an ideal: a continent united, respected and fully engaged in world affairs. For President Macky Sall, it also recalls a demand.
The figures speak for themselves. Africa is home to 1.4 billion people. It accounts for more than a quarter of the membership of the United Nations. It occupies a major share of the Security Council's agenda. Yet in eighty years, the continent has never held a single permanent seat on that body. This is a historical anomaly. It 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. The point is not to break the tool. The point is to repair it 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. The African Union now sits at the table of the world's twenty largest economies. The precedent shows that a just claim, pursued with method, can move the lines. His record attests to it.
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. He invites the other regional groups to engage with it as a serious basis for discussion.
On this Africa Day, the message is simple. Correcting this anomaly is not a favour granted to the continent. It 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 President Macky Sall's commitment to a renewed multilateralism, in the service of all.