Flag of West African nation Ghana (Credit: Wikipedia Commons)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK- The Republic of Ghana has won a seat on the powerful United Nations Security Council for 2022/23. The Security Council is a body of 15 members, five of which are permanent and have veto power: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. Albania, Brazil, Gabon, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were also elected by the 75th session of the General Assembly. According to the final tally of last Friday’s elections, Ghana received 185 votes, Gabon 183, UAE 179, Albania 175 and Brazil 181 votes. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) garnered three votes while Peru and Iran each collected one. The newly elected five will join India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway, the other non-permanent members. Ghana’s tenure on the Council will focus on Enhancing Global Peace and Security for Sustainable and Inclusive Development.
“Ghana will use its membership to pursue conflict prevention, post conflict reconstruction and strengthening of governance, leveraging on our previous and current experience as Chair of ECOWAS as well as our active membership of AU,”
-the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said.
Ghana in the statement congratulated Brazil, the United Emirates, Albania and Gabon for their respective elections saying Ghana looks forward to working closely with all the new members of the Council when their tenure commences January 2022.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-third session. (UN Photo)
“The endorsement of the African Union and the ECOWAS is deeply appreciated. with situations in Africa dominating the agenda of the Security Council, we vow to work assiduously to assist addressing the conflicts on the continent and sustain the peace the people of Africa need. As is well known, issues on Africa constitute 70 percent of the Security Council’s agenda,”
Minister Botchwey added.
Ghana will also work to help address global challenges including violent extremism, terrorism, malicious cyber threats, illicit trafficking of arms, climate change, the statement said.
