Post-electoral: At Least 134 dead this week in protests - Under update
Mozambique at the UN Security Council? Portugal should support
4:00 CAT | 23 Oct 2020
File photo: Voa Portugues
- The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, says that Portugal is open to supporting Mozambique’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Augusto Santos Silva considers the possible choice of Mozambique as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the period 2023-2024, “advantageous”.
Santos Silva was responding to DW Africa regarding the recent request from his Mozambican counterpart, Verónica Macamo, addressed to the countries of Africa and the Middle East with diplomatic representation in Maputo, for support for the country’s candidacy.
The Portuguese foreign minister admits that Mozambique can mobilize African support, but says he still has no formal notification of what candidacies will be presented.
“We know that there is an internal consultation process with the different sub-regional organisations of the African Group to reach a consensus on this candidacy. We have a good expectation that, in the specific case of SADC/Southern Africa, Mozambique may benefit from African support for a candidacy,” he indicates.
Lisbon will support candidacy
Augusto Santos Silva hinted that, if requested, Lisbon would support the Mozambican bid, taking into account the advantage it represents for all Portuguese-speaking countries.
“We had great benefit when Angola was a member of the United Nations Security Council – indeed, an electoral member – and it helped us a lot in António Guterres’ application to become secretary general,” he recalls.
“I think that the Portuguese-speaking countries gain advantage from the fact that the secretary-general is Portuguese. And when we speak of the CPLP [Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries], we speak of an intergovernmental organisation that has three axes: the language axis, the axis of cooperation, but also the axis of political-diplomatic consultation. And political-diplomatic consultation means that we try to support each other, because anything that favours the Community favours each one of its members,” Santos Silva said.
Greater international visibility
“The candidacy of Mozambique to the United Nations Security Council will lend the country greater visibility internationally,” Cátia Miriam Costa, a researcher at the Centre for International Studies at Lisbon University, says.
On the other hand, Costa adds, the Mozambican candidacy could also give the southern African region generally great visibility.
“In other words, it also allows the African continent to be placed in a more vehement way, as well as the sub-Saharan African and East African regions, allowing for an awareness of the problem of Islamic extremism in this so often forgotten part of the globe.”
Cabo Delgado on the agenda
According to Costa, such a candidacy could also provide Mozambique with a greater capacity to influence the international agenda.
“It will also [serve] to contribute to the resolution of conflicts in which Mozambique finds itself involved in, such as Cabo Delgado, which is under attack by outside forces, whose sanctuaries are located in other countries, according to the most recent information.”
In conclusion, Cátia Costa envisages that the presence of Mozambique in the UN Security Council may contribute not only to a greater visibility for the country and the region, but could also be a way to search for solutions to conflicts in the country.
These conflicts, she adds, “are kept far removed from the central debate on security and defence issues within the international order”.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Show comments
Also read
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.