Africa demands UN Security Council reforms
September 23, 2016
South African President Jacob Zuma has warned that illicit financial flows out of Africa of about $50 billion a year were depriving the continent of much-needed resources for development.
Zuma said: “Illicit financial flows deprive developing countries of the much-needed economic resources to uplift their economies in order to provide infrastructure and basic services such as education and health care.”
Zuma made his remarks during his address at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in the United States on Tuesday.
“The successful implementation of Africa’s development plans depends on the availability of resources.
“We are therefore seriously concerned about the loss of resources of the continent through illicit financial flows,” President Zuma said.
The Joint African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa’s High-level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa estimates that illicit flows from Africa could be about 50 billion dollars per annum. Zuma said: “We committed ourselves to an ambitious and transformative global development programme that seeks to address the triple challenge of this century: poverty, unemployment and inequality.”
He said that to a great extent, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) played a critical role in galvanising governments and communities all over the world to make programmes and policies aimed at poverty eradication and addressing socio-economic development, particularly in Africa.
“It is a well-known reality that our continent, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, did not achieve the targets that were set in the MDGs. It was for this reason that we insisted that the Sustainable Development Goals should continue the unfinished business of the MDGs,” said Zuma.
“We have an interest, therefore, in ensuring the full implementation of the SDGs, as we take forward the agenda of promoting Africa’s sustainable development.
“We have made significant strides in the past couple of decades in reversing the impact of underdevelopment and the legacies of colonialism and apartheid in Africa.” Zuma said if Africa was to develop faster, certain constraints needed to b e addressed, like inadequate infrastructure, high dependency on primary products, high exposure to commodity price volatility, limited investment in research and development, science, innovation and technology, low private sector investment and skills inadequacy.
“To respond to some of these constraints, the continent has embarked on a number of initiatives. These include the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the Presidential Infrastructure Championing Initiative, the African Mining Vision, and the Programme for the Infrastructural Development of Africa,” said Zuma.
He said South Africa had put in place a National Development Plan which was aligned to the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“It is imperative that Africa and the Least Developed Countries, which were left behind in previous industrialisation processes, must not be excluded from the new industrial revolution.”
Zuma said the African continent remained committed through the African Union and its Peace and Security Architecture to resolve the remaining conflict areas: “We have committed ourselves to silence the guns by 2020.” Zuma also appealed to the UN Security Council “in particular” to support African peace operations. The situation in Libya, South Sudan and the Central African Republic remains a continental priority.
“We strongly urge the UN Security Council to better align and coordinate with the African Union in efforts to bring about peace in these sister countries and the continent at large.
“Beyond the continent, we remain concerned about threats of terrorism. Fifteen years after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, international terrorism remains a challenge that no single country or region can successfully deal with. Zuma said the conflicts in both Libya and Syria had provided fertile ground for the terrorists to carry out their unjustified terrorist activities.
Zuma said the deadlock in the Security Council on the Syrian question exposed the “inherent structural dysfunction” of the 1945 consensus. “We must therefore ask ourselves if the UN, and in particular the UN Security Council as currently configured, can fulfill its mandate in addressing the challenges of the twenty first century.
“The UN Security Council is supposed to act in our collective interest without being bogged down by domestic narrow interests of a few states.”
Zuma said it was imperative and urgent that the United Nations, and in particular the Security Council, should be reformed.
“South Africa has been calling for, and we will continue to call for, the fundamental reform of the United Nation’s Security Council in order to ensure the representation of Africa,” said Zuma. “One billion people cannot continue to be denied a voice in this manner.”
On the troubles in Israel, Zuma said the lack of progress in finding a durable solution to the Palestinian question and the Saharawi Arab Republic’s struggle for self-determination remain a major concern.
“It is important that the United Nations should carry out its historic mission in ensuring that the two longest outstanding decolonisation and occupation issues are resolved once and for all, in fulfilment of the UN Charter objectives.”
Zuma said the signing of the Paris Agreement last year marked a historic moment in humanity’s resolve to minimise the impact of climate change. “The adoption of the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action during COP17 was a historic milestone.”
Zuma “saluted” the UN’s outgoing Secretary General, Ban Ki moon. – ANA
