Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone, said:  “The Security Council still reflects the world of 1945.  Africa, home to more than 1.6 billion people and the subject of much of the Council’s work, still has no permanent seat.”

“Africa seeks its rightful place because the Council cannot be fully legitimate or effective while an entire continent remains permanently absent from its highest level of decision-making.”

He asserted that, “No durable global solution on peace, climate, food, energy or technology can be built without African leadership.”

As Coordinator of the African Union Committee of Ten, Sierra Leone will continue to push for two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats on the Council for African nations.

“Before this session concludes, Member States should have a consolidated model, which we committed to in the Pact for the Future.”

Sierra Leone speaks with the authority of service; during its Council term in 2024 and 2025, “we worked as a voice of reason and a bridge across division”.

“Representation becomes meaningful when it changes decisions and improves lives,” he stated, noting that international financial institutions have a similar imbalance in representation as the Council.

He spoke of trust being further restored through the “unfinished cause” of reparatory justice for slavery.  “For Sierra Leone, this history is neither abstract nor distant,” rather its “legacy continues to be reflected in enduring disparities in wealth, power and opportunity across our world”.

His country will advance this cause not as “a plea for charity” but rather as a call “for acknowledgement, formal apology, the return of cultural heritage, fair redress and guarantees of non-repetition”.