The US ambassador to the United Nations says the United States supports the addition of two African countries to the UN Security Council as permanent members without veto power.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield revealed this during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Thursday.
The remark came at a time when calls are growing for reform of the security council. The council has faced criticism for being dysfunctional, with permanent members holding veto power clashing over the situation in Ukraine and other issues.
Regarding the establishment of two permanent seats for Africa, she said, “It’s what our African partners seek and we believe this is what is just.” She did not mention the names of possible candidate countries.
At the same time, she said the US does not support expansion of the veto power, adding that such expansion would “make the council more dysfunctional.”
Meanwhile, the ambassador reaffirmed US support for countries, such as Japan and Germany, seeking permanent membership.
Currently, African countries hold three of the 10 non-permanent seats.
But they have expressed dissatisfaction that their views are not adequately reflected, given that about 60 percent of the council’s agenda pertains to Africa, including UN peacekeeping operations.
Thomas-Greenfield also said the US supports adding a non-permanent seat for a small island developing state affected by climate change.