Sept/Oct 2005: Lead theme: Africa and the UN Security Council Reform
About This Edition
ISSN : 1744-2532 (Print)
ISBN : 2516-5305 (Online)
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From the Publisher
Africa and the UN Security Council Reforms
Jideofor Adibe, PhD
In this issue
In the July/August edition of the journal, we focused on China-Africa relations in what Chinese diplomats like to call the 'new period' - a euphemism for a period of its emergence as a great economic power. We posed and sought answers to a number of critical questions: Will China's desire to find markets for its goods lead to policy options that will do for the continent what decades of the West's engagements have so far failed to achieve Are the Chinese merely using Africa to test their goods as some cynics insist Can Africa capitalise on any 'beautiful bride' status to win concessions from its suitors
In this issue we look at the quest to reform the United Nations Security Council, including Africas position in that quest and pose a number fundamental questions: Is the will to reform the UN-SC there at all Are talks about reforming the UN-SC mere word-mongering Is Africa better off leading a campaign to reform other oligarchic aspects of the UN such as the monopolisation of the rights to lead strategic organs of the UN like the IMF What kind of geo-political alliances will any quest to offer permanent membership of the Security Council to some African countries throw up in the continent
Contributors to this issue have addressed the above questions - and more. Issaka Souare argues that it is unlikely that the big powers will allow any meaningful reform of the UN-SC, and that it is better for Africa to focus on campaigns to reduce some ascribed privileges of the five permanent members in the world body and its strategic organs. Wafulu Okumu assesses the chances of the African aspirants for permanent membership of the Security Council. Hanaoka Nobuaki traces Japans quest for a permanent slot, showing how geo-strategic politics can undermine a candidates chances, even if the candidate has the support of the US. Carey Goodman re-echoes Nobuakis views, arguing that reforming the Security Council wont be easy because of geo-political interests and the rivalries among many contending aspirants. Thalif Deen partly blames the African Union (AU) for the grounding to a halt the recent momentum for reform, noting that the proposal by the G-4 (India, Germany, Brazil and Japan) for six new permanent seats in the 15-member- body was torpedoed by AUs refusal to back down on its demand for two permanent seats in the Security Council. Chinua Akukwe discusses why Nigeria, which ought to be a natural unopposed African candidate, is not having an easy ride. Amadu Jacky Kaba argues that it is indeed in Americas interest to support Africas bid for two seats while Siddharth Srivastava contends that reforming the UN-SC is a dead-end because of there is plenty of geo-strategy politics at play.
Besides the lead themes we also bring a number of very topical articles. For instance Joe L. Washington revisits the conflicts in Western Sahara and asks whether the world must wait for renewed violence and war before it intervenes to implement the ceasefire agreement reached with the Polisario Front. Abdulkadir Osman Farah, who returned recently from a month-long trip to Somalia, updates on the progress and challenges in the current effort to reconfigure and reconstitute that failed state. Danille K. Taylor narrates her experiences of being a black tourist in both Australia and Senegal. Raymond Downing, author of As They See It: The Development of the African Aids Discourse, looks at the relationship between African AIDs and human rights, and poses the question of whether it is human rights abuse to impose our understanding of Africas biggest problems on them Seth Sandronsky reviews the hiring crisis for U.S. black teens, arguing that black teens are living in depression-like times in terms of employment opportunities. Ken Omeje looks at radical Islam and political conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa, and argues that the problems associated with Islamist fundamentalism in sub-Saharan Africa cannot be solved in isolation of the larger developmental and political concerns of the Islamic world.
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