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UN summit: Security Council expansion talks among ‘G4’
Published 3 hours agoPublished 3 hours agolast updated 21 minutes agolast updated 21 minutes ago
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is meeting with counterparts from the so-called G4 to discuss reforming UN Security Council. And China’s vice president is expected to address the assembly. Follow DW for more.
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A wide angle shot of the UN Security Council meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for Germany to join the UNSC during a speech WednesdayImage: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
Skip next section What you need to know
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is to discuss expansion of the UN Security Council with members of the “G4” grouping. Baerbock said Wednesday that the UNSC needs to be “modernized.” Poland has voiced opposition to the idea.
China’s Vice President Han Zheng, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and European Union foreign policy chief Charles Michel are all expected to address the assembly later Thursday.
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will discuss universal health coverage at high-level meeting with UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Skip next section Niger diplomatic solution ‘still possible,’ Senegalese president says
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Niger diplomatic solution ‘still possible,’ Senegalese president says
A diplomatic solution in Niger, where a military junta in July ousted elected President Mohamed Bazoum and named a new government, was “still possible,” Senegalese President Macky Sall told the media on the sidelines of the General Assembly, which he is due to address.
“I hope that reason will ultimately prevail… that it is still possible to move forward reasonably to a solution,” Sall said in an interview with France’s RFI and France 24 media outlets.
He also urged the coup leaders “to not push [us] to the final decision which would be a military intervention.”
Senegal is a member of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, which has threatened to militarily intervene if the coup is not reversed.
“This last military option can only be done when, truly, all avenues would have been exhausted,” he added.
ECOWAS at one point set a deadline for restoring Bazoum to power, hinting at intervention if it was not met. But the date ultimately passed without consequence.
Niger coup puts ECOWAS to the test
01:26
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Skip next section CAR president blames migration crisis on the West
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CAR president blames migration crisis on the West
The Central African Republic president blamed the West for triggering the migration crisis during his address at the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
“This escalation of the migrant crisis is one of the appalling consequences of the plundering of natural resources of countries made poor by slavery, colonization and Western imperialism, terrorism and internal armed conflicts,” Faustin Archange Touadera said.
He was particularly addressing the crisis on Italy’s Lampedusa island, where the arrival of thousands of African migrants last week overwhelmed the local community and put the Italy’s right-wing government and the European Union on crisis mode.
“These young people who symbolize the present and the future of our continent are desperately seeking to join the countries of the European continent in search of an El Dorado,” Touadera said.
Touadera was one of the very first African leaders to reach out to Russia and specifically the mercenary Wagner Group to try to shore up domestic security amid major infighting between Muslim and Christian sectors of the population and after decades of violence and a total of six coups in the country since its independence in 1960.
Addressing the same assembly on Wednesday, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni blamed the crisis on migrant smugglers, arguing that Africa was a rich continent.
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Skip next section Zelenskyy heads to Washington after UN address
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Zelenskyy heads to Washington after UN address
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meanwhile moved on to Washington DC on Thursday, after addressing first the General Debate and then the Security Council in person.
Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet US President Joe Biden, as well as lawmakers and political meetings.
“Important meetings ahead,” Zelenskyy posted on social media. “Last night, Russia launched another mass missile attack on Ukraine. I thank all of our rescuers for their immediate response.”
The Ukrainian president said his meetings would prioritize air defense.
“We must work together to fully deprive Russia of its terrorist potential,” he said.
Zelenskyy will hold talks with Biden at the White House amid his push for fresh US assistance. He will also go to the Pentagon to consult with US military brass.
However, the most important part of the visit might be his private discussions with Democratic and Republican lawmakers of the House and Senate.
The presidential election campaign is liable to dominate much of 2024 and could end up straining US focus on the conflict in Ukraine.
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Skip next section German foreign minister meets with G4 to discuss Security Council expansion
3 hours ago3 hours ago
German foreign minister meets with G4 to discuss Security Council expansion
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday is meeting with fellow foreign ministers from the “G4” grouping of nations, comprising Germany, Brazil, Japan and India, all of which support each other’s bids for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
US, China, Russia, Britain and France all have permanent seats, and expanding the Security Council is a topic that’s been discussed on and off for decades.
But it is broadly seen as a non-starter given the need for all five existing permanent members, often with competing interests, to find consensus on any potential reform.
Baerbock, Blinken stress continued support for Ukraine
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On Wednesday, following a meeting of the Security Council at the UN General Assembly, Baerbock said that Germany could “imagine being a permanent member.”
“But not out of self-interest, but in the course of a major modernization which, on the whole, takes greater account of the realities of the 21st century,” she later added, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In his opening address to the Security Council on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Germany should be granted a permanent seat, arguing that the country had become “one of the key guarantors of peace and security.”
Poland said Thursday it opposes a permanent German seat on the Security Council, with Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak calling the suggestion from Zelenskyy a “great disappointment,” while alleging that Germany had dithered on supporting Ukraine in the early days of Russia’s invasion.
Poland’s conservative government has previously called for Germany to pay over $1 trillion in World War IIreparations. Warsaw is also in the midst of a dispute with Kyiv over grain exports at present.
