Kenya beats Djibouti to secure final African seat at UN Security Council

New York, USA

Kenya on Thursday beat Djibouti to clinch the last African seat at the United Nations Security Council.

Backed by the African Union, Kenya garnered 129 votes against Djibouti’s 62, and will join Tunisia and Niger at the Council for two years, 2021-2022.

Nairobi had campaigned on its contribution to East Africa’s peace efforts and its participation in AU peacekeeping missions.

In his final plea to UN General Assembly delegates, President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday said Kenya would use its stint at the Security Council to advance the “pan-Africanist agenda of global peace, solidarity and multilateralism.”

The first vote was held on Wednesday but no clear winner was obtained, forcing a second round of voting.

While most of the UN operations are currently conducted online, the voting was done by a secret ballot in New York.

Each of the 193 delegations were allocated a chance to cast their ballots in the Assembly Hall at designated times distributed throughout the day.

The Security Council has 10 non-permanent members in addition to the veto-wielding Big Five – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Turkish diplomat Volkan Bozkir was also elected President of the UN General Assembly for the 2020-2021 session.