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Musings From Abroad

US backs 2 permanent seats for Africa in Security Council

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United States Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, is set to announce the position that the US favours giving two permanent seats to African states in the Security Council, and one seat that would be rotated among small island developing states.

The action is being taken as the US looks to strengthen its relationships with Pacific Island countries that are crucial to fending off Chinese influence in the area and mend fences with Africa, where many people are upset over Washington’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

The declaration, which Thomas-Greenfield described as a part of US President Joe Biden’s legacy, is intended to “move this agenda forward in a way that we can achieve Security Council reform at some point in the future,” she told journalists.

In addition to Washington’s long-standing support for India, Japan, and Germany to also receive permanent seats on the council, there is a drive for two permanent African members and a rotating seat for small island developing states.

Developing countries have long sought seats on the Security Council, the UN’s most powerful body, permanently. However, years of reform negotiations have yielded little results, and it’s uncertain if US backing could spur action.

Thomas-Greenfield made it clear to Reuters ahead of the Council on Foreign Relations’ announcement in New York on Thursday that Washington opposes the extension of the veto power beyond the five nations that now possess it.

The Security Council is responsible of upholding global peace and security and is vested with the authority to employ force, impose sanctions, and enforce arms embargoes.

There were eleven members of the Security Council at the UN’s founding in 1945. In 1965, the number of members rose to 15, consisting of five permanent veto-wielding nations (the US, Britain, China, Russia, and France) and ten elected governments serving two-year terms.

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Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

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After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.

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Musings From Abroad

Russia vetoes Sudan conflict Security Council move

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A draft resolution from the UN Security Council urging Sudan’s warring parties to immediately end hostilities and guarantee the delivery of humanitarian supplies was vetoed by Russia on Monday.

China and every other member of the 15-member council supported the British-Serra Leonean-drafted motion.

In a decision described as “mean, nasty, and cynical” by British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, Russia was the only member to vote against, sending a message to the warring parties that they may act without consequence.

The world’s greatest relocation crisis began in April 2023 when the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces engaged in a power battle ahead of a scheduled transfer to civilian administration.

The conflict’s participants were urged by the draft resolution to “immediately cease hostilities and engage, in good faith, in dialogue to agree steps to de-escalate the conflict to urgently agree a national ceasefire.”

In addition, it urged them to hold talks to reach agreements on humanitarian pauses and arrangements, guarantee the safe movement of people, and provide sufficient humanitarian relief, among other things.

The United Kingdom was accused by Russia of trying to interfere in Sudanese affairs.

“We agree with all Security Council colleagues that the conflict in Sudan requires a swift resolution. It is also clear that the only way to achieve this is for the warring parties to agree to a ceasefire,” Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told the meeting.

He claimed Lammy’s critique was an “excellent demonstration of British neo-colonialism” and accused those who supported the proposed resolution of using “double standards” by allowing Israel to continue violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.

“One country stood in the way of the council speaking with one voice. One country is the blocker. One country is the enemy of peace. This Russian veto is a disgrace, and it shows to the world yet again, Russia’s true colours,” Lammy told the meeting.

“I ask the Russian representative, in all conscience – sitting there on his phone – how many more Sudanese have to be killed? How many more women have to be raped? How many more children have to go without food before Russia will act?”

Nearly 25 million people, or half of Sudan’s population, require help, according to the U.N., since 11 million people have abandoned their homes and starvation has spread to displacement camps. Of those, almost 3 million have departed for other nations.

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