Africa also wants five non-permanent seats.

“Reform of the security council is long overdue,” says Sithembile Mbete, Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Pretoria. “Its structure — five permanent members with veto power and ten non-permanent elected members serving two-year terms — is outdated. It reflects the configuration of global power at the end of the second world war.”

“The council faces a credibility crisis because of its failure to address the biggest conflicts of our time. Expanding representation and democratising its working methods is essential to ensuring its legitimacy, credibility and effectiveness in meeting the security challenges of the future.”