The question of whether Africa should have permanent seats on the UN Security Council will be on the agenda at the UN General Assembly starting on 24 September. The United States Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has called for two permanent seats for Africa and a third new permanent seat for small island states vulnerable to climate change. The US also backed calls for India, Japan and Germany to have permanent seats on the Council.

Africa currently has three non-permanent seats on the Security Council: member states serve for two years and the seats are rotated around the region. But that doesn’t allow African countries ‘to deliver the full benefit of their knowledge and voices,’ according to Thomas-Greenfield.

Under the US plan, none of the African seats or other new permanent seats would have veto power. That’s likely to be a deal breaker unless the current permanent five agree to surrender their veto powers or constrain them.

There is no clarity on which countries would take Africa’s seats. If the African Union took one, the continent’s biggest states would jostle for the other, citing the need for geographical and geopolitical balance. Power blocs such as the European Union and the BRICS, and their individual member states, have joined calls for permanent African seats on the Council but also lack a clear plan. Fixing this is key to international reform.