United Nations, April 23
"We have to continue to be bold" in pursuing the reform of the Security Council, said Macky Sall, who is a candidate for secretary-general.
The debate over reforming the Council has been going on for over 30 years, but the "one thing that we can all agree on is that today, the Security Council is not representative of today's world," he said on Wednesday at a candidate's forum here.
There are many different proposals for reforming the Council, and some even say that "it cannot take place now within the time of tension, that more time is needed for reform".
"What I can try to do is push the agenda forward," he pledged while replying to a question on behalf of the G4 -- India, Germany, Japan and Brazil -- which pursue reforms together.
He said, "We need to ensure inclusion, whilst also bearing in mind the need to maintain the credibility and above all, the effectiveness of the council, because with five vetoes, that's already a hard task."
"All options are on the table, and I will push as hard as I can," he said.
But he added, "Obviously, the decision is not that of the secretary-general. It is the decision of member states if this reform is to go forward."
Sall, a former president of Senegal, is one of the four candidates who want to succeed Antonio Guterres when his second term ends this year.
He is the only one from Africa; the other three are from Latin America.
He was nominated by Burundi, whose President Evariste Ndayishimiye is the president of the African Union.
But Sall does not have the backing of his country.
While he faced a gauntlet of questions from diplomats and civil society representatives during a three-hour session, his supporters and his opponents held demonstrations outside the UN building.
Sall was the president of the African Union (AU) during 2022-23, when the organisation became a member of G20 at the New Delhi summit, while it was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He recalled his efforts on behalf of the AU for joining the G20, the group of industrialised and emerging nations, as an example of how he would lead the UN if he got the job.
AU becoming a full member of the G20 "was not an obvious thing at the time, but it was through discussion, through dialogue," and by talking to all leaders that he managed it, he said.
"I think that this capacity to talk to anyone, everyone, without any barriers, this is what I want to and can put at the disposal of the organisation," he said.
- IANS
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