Hassan Isilow
07 April 2022•Update: 08 April 2022
JOHANNESBURG
The president of South Africa said Thursday that the conflict in Ukraine exposed the inability of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to fulfill its mandate to maintain international peace and security.
“The entire peace and security architecture of the United Nations needs to be overhauled,” Cyril Ramaphosa said in an address to the South African Heads of Mission Conference.
He said the current formation of the Security Council is outdated and unrepresentative, which disadvantages countries with developing economies.
The South African leader further said the Council comprises a few powerful countries and he called for democratization so the group can be true to its mandate and move beyond the paralysis brought about by a few member states.
“Powerful countries must no longer be allowed to disregard international law,” he told the diplomats.
Ramaphosa said there is a need to curb the unilateral actions of a few powerful wealthy countries that shape global politics through aggression and other coercive measures like imposing unilateral sanctions.
He said keeping with South Africa’s strong commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflict, it has urged Russian and Ukrainian parties to pursue a negotiated political solution.
“We have encouraged our international partners to consider confidence-building measures that will bring the parties closer together rather than adopt measures that will further alienate the parties and result in the escalation of armed conflict,” he said.
Ramaphosa said he is deeply concerned about the broader implications of the conflict for global economic recovery.
“It has disrupted global supply chains, driven up the price of essential commodities and plunged the world into a new era of economic instability and uncertainty,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the focus on the African Agenda and resources committed have been diverted and urgent global issues like climate change have been eclipsed by rising global tensions.
“Our fundamental responsibility as a global community is to ensure that the human suffering in Ukraine is brought to an end and that a sustainable and just peace is achieved,” said Ramaphosa.
He added that a global community has an equal responsibility to bring a decisive end to human suffering in Yemen, Palestine, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Mozambique and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
