By Linda Kwanjana
Malawi leader Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Thursday addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York where among other things the president called for the United Nations General Assembly to give Africa a voice to veto important global decisions.
In his address, Chakwera expressed displeasure with the arrangement where such seats have only been offered to Western countries.
The President in this regard demanded real democracy to flourish in the UN family.
“But if we are serious about
cooperation, then we must act with urgency in fixing and reforming the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, and one fix that we from African demand is for the United Nations to embrace democracy in the Security Council by giving Africa two permanent seats with veto power,” he said.
The President said he was happy to note that some leaders like Joe Biden are in support of the reforms.
“When I first made this call in my inaugural address in this chamber, I was delighted to hear President Biden also announce that the United States is in favour of this reform. Similarly, when I met President Xi Jinping of China three weeks ago, I was delighted to hear that he, too, is in favour of a stronger representation of the interests of developing countries in the Security Council. So, Mr. President, the time to fix this is now,” he said.
Chakwera said there is a need for this abnormality to be fixed need in order to strengthen voice on the issues that
matter to African countries.
“In the four years that I have been
President, I have declared a state of natural disaster every year
because of climate change impacts that we can not solve without multilateral cooperation,” he said.
