‎SYPALA: Africa must build its own voice before seeking UN Security Council seat – Festus Aboagye

By: Godbless Asaana 
‎Retired Ghanaian military officer, Colonel Festus Boahen Aboagye, has cautioned against assuming that an African seat on the United Nations Security Council would automatically translate into a unified African voice and influence in global affairs.
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‎Speaking on Thursday, August 27, 2026, at the Students and Young Professionals African Liberty Academy (SYPALA 2026), where he led a discussion on “Africa in a Multipolar World: How Can Africa Identify Its Voice, Agency and Influence in a Multipolar World?”
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‎Colonel Aboagye said Africa must first confront the internal disagreements and external influences that could undermine its ability to act collectively on the global stage.
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‎Colonel Aboagye said Africa’s debate over a permanent seat on the Security Council must take into account the question of who would actually represent the continent and whether that country would consult the rest of Africa before taking major decisions.
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‎”The notion that if we got a seat, we’ll vote with one voice is what you have answered. It’s not going to happen. The country that sits on the Security Council in the name of Africa will not even consult the AU or the rest of Africa. It will go there and do its own business,” he said.
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‎According to him, the process of deciding which country should represent Africa could itself become a source of disagreement.
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‎”So, even the idea of determining who would represent Africa on the Security Council seat, there’s a huge debate. And I think it’s going to be more problematic than the current situation in which we are.”
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‎He further warned that the choice of a Francophone country could create additional concerns over external influence.
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‎”So, if you make the mistake of sending a Francophone country, invariably, France will influence that country, you know, to do what it is that external France wants.”
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‎Despite these concerns, Colonel Aboagye acknowledged that Africa having a permanent seat would be strategically important.
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‎”But cosmetically, theoretically, because the world has evolved, and for the reasons that you are assembled here, and some of the lectures that you’ve had, it makes sense to say that Africa must have a seat, hoping that Africa will speak with one voice,” he said.
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‎”Because if it speaks with one voice, then it will have agency, and then it will have influence. But that process is not going to be very simple,” he added.