Sarkozy blasts ‘scandal’
SWITZERLAND: Fre- nch President Nicolas Sarkozy said Saturday that it
was a “scandal” that Africa was not given a permanent seat on the UN
Security Council as he outlined his aims for France’s Presidency of the
G20 and G8 nations.
Sarkozy also supported places for India, South America and economic
powers Japan and Germany on the UN’s powerful decision-making body, and
vowed to begin tackling reform of the international monetary system.
“We are in the 21st century, we are no longer in the 20th century,”
Sarkozy said, outlining the need for major changes to international
political and economic governance at the opening of the 13th summit of
francophone nations.
Sarkozy told the 37 other Heads of State and Government that he
wanted to deal with three major issues when France takes over the helm
of the Group of 20 rich and emerging nations on November 12, and the
Group of Eight industrialised nations next year.
They included a multilateral approach to the monetary system,
volatile commodity prices and transparency in oil markets, as well as
broadening the UN Security Council to developing nations and other
economic powers.
The French leader questioned whether it was normal that there was “no
permanent member of the Security Council from Africa”.
“One billion inhabitants, in 30 years two billion inhabitants who
have no permanent representation — it’s a scandal,” he exclaimed, also
underlining the legitimacy of a place for India as one of the world’s
most populous nations.
Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade told journalists: “A historic
error needs to be repaired.”
But Wade cautioned that an African country that took up a Security
Council seat with the veto right “must be a good advocate for Africa” as
whole and should not believe that it represented itself.
AFP |