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Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, delivers a speech at the high-level panel discussion on ''Education in Peril: The Human Cost of War'' during the opening session of the 5th Observance of the UN International Day to Protect Education from Attack at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) in Doha, Qatar, on September 9, 2024.
Liberia’s top diplomat calls for “total overhaul” of UN Security Council
UNITED NATIONS – African countries are ramping up calls for permanent representation on the UN Security Council, contending that it’s a paralyzed institution dominated by a few wealthy countries and in desperate need of reform.
When the Security Council was first established in the aftermath of World War II, many African countries were still under colonial rule. In the time since, the framework of the Security Council has largely remained the same, but the world it represents has changed dramatically.
“Many African countries have had different experiences that have led many of us to believe that the current configuration for global governance on peace and security is no longer fit for purpose. The needs of countries during conflict, post-conflict for reconstruction, are not being met in line with the expectations,” Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti told GZERO at the SDG Media Zone during the 79th UN General Assembly in New York City.
“It's important that voices are heard. We talk about leaving no one behind. And if the countries that are affected don’t feel they have adequate and just and equitable representation, then there’s a problem,” Nyanti added.
Nyanti echoed recent calls for African countries to be granted permanent seats on the Security Council. “It needs to happen,” Nyanti said, emphasizing that Africa is the source of “most of the resources of the world” and “critical to global governance.”
“You cannot have a rules-based world order that does not reflect all of the world's people adequately,” Nyanti said.
On Wednesday, during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, many African countries, including Sierra Leone, Algeria, and Mozambique, pointed to the council’s ineffective response to the spiraling situation in the Middle East as evidence of the need for reform.
“Increasing geopolitical competition has increasingly turned this chamber into a battleground,” said Manuel Gonzalez, Vice Minister of Mozambique’s Foreign Affairs, referring to Russia’s backing of Iran — which supports Hezbollah — while the US stands alongside Israel. “The security council must restore its relevance and impartiality, therefore Mozambique reiterates its calls on the need for Security Council reform which also takes into consideration the African common position.”
The US recently endorsed granting permanent seats to two African countries but without the veto power wielded by the original five members: the US, Russia, China, France, and the UK. When asked whether permanent seats without veto power would effectively be symbolic, Nyanti said, “I think just talking about veto or non-veto is not the issue. It's about overhauling the entire system.”
“I believe very, very strongly that we need to go back to the beginning, go back to the foundation, look at what’s there, and look at what needs to be totally overhauled and reformed,” she said.
Watch John Haltiwanger's full interview with Foreign Minister Nyanti here.
Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Liberia's Vice President and presidential candidate of the Unity Party (UP), speaks during a campaign rally in Monrovia, Liberia December 24, 2017.
Hard Numbers: Liberian president cuts his own pay, Myanmar civilian deaths reach record pace, STDs surge among seniors, “Jewelrygate” in Brazil
40: Amid a rising cost-of-living crisis in his country, Liberian President Joseph Boakai, who took office in January, has slashed his own salary by 40%. The gesture of solidarity, which echoes a similar move by his predecessor, will bring his yearly pay down to $8,000. Liberia’s GDP per capita is about $800 a year, among the lowest of any country in the world.
359: Airstrikes by Myanmar’s military junta killed at least 359 civilians between January and April, putting the regime on pace to kill more noncombatants in 2024 than in the previous three years combined. In the three years since it took power in a coup, the junta has been waging war against a patchwork of regional and ethnic militias. The US has tried to sanction the sale of jet fuel to the Myanmar regime, but China and Vietnam have skirted those efforts. For the historical background, see here.
24: Grandma! Grandpa! What are you DOING in there??!! During the pandemic, diagnoses of sexually transmitted diseases among US senior citizens jumped by nearly 24%, new data show. That’s the highest of any age group. And to think, staying inside was supposed to “stop the spread”? (OK, we’ll just stop there.)
1.2 million: Federal police in Brazil say a crime group with links to right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro tried to illegally sell $1.2 million worth of jewels, watches, and other luxury gifts from foreign leaders. The cash was allegedly funneled into accounts controlled by Bolsonaro and his family. The populist Bolsonaro, a one-time political outsider, won the 2018 election in part by promising to tackle Brazil’s rampant corruption, but watchdogs say he was part of the problem.
A Russian artist was arrested and sentenced to 7 years in prison for replacing the price labels at a local supermarket with anti-war stickers.
Hard Numbers: Russian artist pays “price” for anti-war campaign, West Bank settler violence surges, US “lawmakers” fail to live up to the name, Liberians make their choice, Starbucks employees go on strike
7: Numbers are not a crime! Except in Russia, where a St. Petersburg court has sentenced 33-year-old artist Sasha Skochilenko to seven years in prison for spreading “false information” about the Russian army. Skochilenko was arrested for replacing the price labels at a local supermarket with Hard Numbers-style stickers carrying new “prices” and descriptions like “The Russian army bombed an art school in Mariupol killing 400 people,” or “I haven’t heard from my sister in Ukraine in eight days.”
973: With the world’s attention on Gaza, attacks by Jewish settlers have driven at least 963 Palestinians from their West Bank homes since Oct. 7, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. That’s nearly double the number of expulsions that occurred in the two years prior to Hamas’ recent attack on Israel. Israel’s far-right security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, has been open about his aim to arm settlers with military-style rifles from the US.
21: What’s going on up on Capitol Hill these days? Not much, it seems. So far this year, Congress has written just 21 laws, the slowest pace for a Congress since the early 1930s. The multiple fiascos surrounding House leadership are part of it, sure, but still — you quite literally have one job, “lawmakers”! One job!
50.6: With some 87% of Liberia’s polling stations reporting, Liberian opposition leader Joseph Boakai late on Thursday had notched 50.6% of the presidential vote against incumbent George Weah’s 49.4%. The runoff is a rematch of the 2017 vote, which brought former soccer star Weah to office in the country’s first ever democratic transfer of power. Weah is credited with infrastructure improvements but has faced protests over corruption and inflation.
200: How about some frothy labor relations to go with that pumpkin spice latte? Thousands of unionized workers at as many as 200 Starbucks locations walked off the job Thursday, citing ongoing grievances about being overworked and understaffed, particularly during promotions when customer demands surge (Thursday was the annual “Red Cup” giveaway day). Starbucks Workers United represents workers at about 3% of the company’s 9,300 US locations.
A ballot box is emptied and the counting of ballots begins. In Bavaria, the election for the 19th Bavarian state parliament took place on Sunday.
What We're Watching: Three votes that matter
The first took place on Sunday in Germany. In the states of Bavaria and Hesse, voters continued a trend we’ve seen in recent years in France, Italy, and several other European countries of abandoning traditional mainstream parties of both the left and right in a shift toward new names and faces.
Inflation, a stagnant economy, and rising anxiety over migration into the country are making life tougher on incumbents. The center-left parties that now govern Germany in coalition performed poorly, but the conservative Christian Social Union, which has governed Bavaria since the 1950s, also floundered, taking its lowest vote share in the southern state (37%) in more than half a century.
Public support in Germany is now moving toward populists. In particular, the populist Free Voters weathered an antisemitism scandal involving its leader to take more than 15% of the vote in Bavaria. The far-right Alternative for Germany party has seen its approval numbers surge alongside a rising number of foreign migrants entering the country. Its 14.6% vote share in Bavaria and 18.4% in Hesse show that the party, which has built a base of support mainly in Germany’s east, is beginning to post impressive numbers in the west.
The second noteworthy vote is expected to take place later this week inside the US House of Representatives, as the Republican majority tries to elect a new speaker to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy.
For now, the lead candidates are House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio. Broadly speaking, Scalise is considered the more experienced legislator and dealmaker, while Jordan offers himself as an unapologetic partisan firebrand with the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
It’s not clear that either man can win the 218 votes needed to become speaker this week, raising the possibility that interim speaker Patrick McHenry of North Carolina might be asked to hold down the job for several weeks, with a clearer understanding of his temporary legislative authority and its limits, as Republicans hash out their differences.
At stake is continued funding of the US government, ongoing US support for Ukraine, and a host of other critical issues.
Finally, voters in Liberia will elect a new president on Tuesday against a backdrop of the violent breakdown of democracy in several other West African countries. President George Weah wants a second six-year term, and the fragmentation of opposition support among 19 challengers might help him win in the first round.
The issues Liberian voters care about most are those that most directly impact their lives. Weah, a celebrated former footballer, can point to wider availability of affordable electricity and greater investment in new roads as accomplishments, but rising food prices have twice triggered major protests during his presidency and could again.
In this case, the vote itself will be a major accomplishment for Liberia. Just in the past five years, there have been coups or coup attempts in the West African states of Mali (twice), Niger (twice), Guinea, Gabon (twice), Burkina Faso (three times), and Sierra Leone. By contrast, Liberia has been a democracy at peace since the 2005 election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.
Weah’s election in 2017 was the first peaceful transition of power from one democratically elected president to another in Liberia’s history.
A protester near the Invalides during a demonstration against the government's pension reform plan in Paris
What We’re Watching: An encore for French protesters, Zelensky’s growing wish list, Weah’s reelection bid
Round Two: French pension reform strikes
For the second time in a month, French workers held mass protests on Tuesday against the government’s proposed pension reform, which would raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64. Organized by the country’s eight big trade unions, authorities say as many as 1.27 million protesters hit the streets nationwide, bringing Paris to a standstill and closing schools throughout France. (Unions say the number was higher.) Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron is sticking to his guns, saying that incrementally raising the national retirement age by 2030 is crucial to reducing France’s ballooning deficit. (Currently, 14% of France’s public spending goes toward its pension program – the third-highest of any OECD country.) But for Macron, this is about more than just economics; his political legacy is on the line. Indeed, the ideological chameleon came to power in 2017 as a transformer and tried to get these pension reforms done in 2019, though he was ultimately forced to backtrack. But as Eurasia Group Europe expert Mujtaba Rahman points out, protesters’ “momentum is the key” and could determine whether legislators from the center-right back Macron or get swayed by the vibe on the street. This would force him to go at it alone using a constitutional loophole, which never makes for good politics. More demonstrations are planned for Feb.7 and Feb. 11.“To give me liberty, give me jets”
“Thanks for the tanks. Now we need jets.” That’s the message Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has for his country’s Western allies. Poland and the Baltics have been predictably supportive. The French, British, and Dutch have said “let’s discuss it.” Early indications from Washington and Berlin are less positive. Zelensky’s latest set of maximalist requests set off a lively debate within your GZERO team meeting, with compelling arguments on both sides. Argument 1: The guy is president of a country fighting a war for survival. It’s not his job to make life easy for American and European decision-makers; it’s to eject Russia from Ukraine, and he needs the best Western weapons to do that. Every day, innocent people in his country die. He should ask for more than everything he needs to make it stop. Argument 2: That’s all true, but there are already voters in the US and Europe who wonder how expensive (and dangerous) escalating support for Ukraine might become with a nuclear-armed power on the other side. Zelensky must understand that the elected leaders in these countries have to listen to these voters. If his demands seem exorbitant and unending, Zelensky might be doing more harm than good. We’ll be watching to see how the West responds to his latest ask.
Weah running for Liberian re-election
Former soccer star George Weah confirmed this week that he'll seek a second — and final — term as Liberia's president in the October election. Weah swept to power in 2018 after beating VP Joseph Boakai in a landslide, promising to rid the country of corruption. Almost five years later, though, graft remains widespread, with Liberia ranking 142nd out of 180 countries in Transparency International's 2022 corruption perceptions index, and last year the US slapped sanctions on Weah's own chief of staff over multiple graft scandals. The president has also come under fire for doing little to address high inflation and food shortages related to Russia's war in Ukraine. More recently, Weah got flak for going on a two-month foreign trip — including a stop in Qatar to watch his son, Timothy, play for the US at the soccer World Cup — while most Liberians live in poverty. Still, Weah, the only African to win the coveted Ballon d'Or award for world's best player, has the one thing that all the opposition candidates lack: name recognition.
If you're a soccer fan and his name doesn't ring a bell, check out this FIFA video to discover how damn good Weah was in his prime.