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By Henry Carter
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Often at Model United Nations Conference’s the topic that dominates the Security Council is based upon global events that play very much in the public eye, namely the Middle East and Ukraine. However the Security Council does not spend nearly as much time on these issues as one might think and in reality Africa dominates the agenda of most Security Council meetings.
When the topic of Africa is ever mentioned at a MUN Security Council debate people usually assume it’s something to do with Terrorism in Somalia or the issue of Sudan however it is much more than that. There is the issue of the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is covered in depth in another article, but also the issue of Western Africa namely Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and many more.
The reasons why Africa is so dominant on the Security Council agenda is firstly due to current geopolitical instability in Africa which has emerged in the past few decades as authoritarian regimes have been toppled and fragile democracies have emerged. This is combined with the fact that many African nations mentioned have come out of very bloody civil wars which often escape the media’s attention and thus escape the public’s attention.
As much as the UN is criticised for inaction on many issues it can be said at least that they have paid significant attention to the crisis in African nations and many peacekeeping missions have been authorized and extended over time. Most P5 nations are in agreement that this is a major issue for international peace and security and act accordingly as often chapter VII resolutions are authorized with regards to Africa without issue and there has been no veto of a Africa since 2008 and it’s difficult to find many vetoes of Africa resolutions till the 1960’s and 70’s where Britain and France vetoed many resolutions to sustain post-empire goals.
A little fact of trivia related to Africa vetoes is that the UK and France vetoed 4 draft resolutions on Namibia in 1 day on 30 April 1981.
When the topic of Africa is ever mentioned at a MUN Security Council debate people usually assume it’s something to do with Terrorism in Somalia or the issue of Sudan however it is much more than that. There is the issue of the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is covered in depth in another article, but also the issue of Western Africa namely Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and many more.
The reasons why Africa is so dominant on the Security Council agenda is firstly due to current geopolitical instability in Africa which has emerged in the past few decades as authoritarian regimes have been toppled and fragile democracies have emerged. This is combined with the fact that many African nations mentioned have come out of very bloody civil wars which often escape the media’s attention and thus escape the public’s attention.
As much as the UN is criticised for inaction on many issues it can be said at least that they have paid significant attention to the crisis in African nations and many peacekeeping missions have been authorized and extended over time. Most P5 nations are in agreement that this is a major issue for international peace and security and act accordingly as often chapter VII resolutions are authorized with regards to Africa without issue and there has been no veto of a Africa since 2008 and it’s difficult to find many vetoes of Africa resolutions till the 1960’s and 70’s where Britain and France vetoed many resolutions to sustain post-empire goals.
A little fact of trivia related to Africa vetoes is that the UK and France vetoed 4 draft resolutions on Namibia in 1 day on 30 April 1981.
Henry Carter
All views and comments are the journalist's own.
Edited by the ReadiMUN15 Secretariat.
Edited by the ReadiMUN15 Secretariat.