Sierra Leone, Algeria elected non-permanent members of UN Security Council

Sierra Leone and Algeria have been elected as non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), representing the African region.

The UN General Assembly voted on Tuesday to fill non-permanent seats on the 15-member council.

The UNSC is one of the six organs of the UN and has the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.

Five of the Council's members -China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States- have permanent status.

Known collectively as the P5, they each have the power to veto a resolution.

The remaining 10 members are elected on a rotating basis for non-consecutive two-year terms and do not have veto power.

However, the non-permanent seats are allocated by region. Africa has three, currently held by Kenya, Ghana and Gabon.

In this election, however, only the two seats held by Ghana and Gabon were up for grabs.

Belarus, Guyana, the Republic of Korea and Slovenia were also elected on Tuesday.

West African bloc ECOWAS

Sierra Leone launched its bid for membership in May 2022 as part of a campaign to lobby regional powers for support.

Nigeria, which had expressed interest in the seat, dropped out with the mediation of the West African bloc ECOWAS.

Sierra Leone later received the endorsement of the African Union at its 39th Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government, and Algeria at its 37th Session.

Sierra Leone has served on the Council once, from 1970 to 1971, since it joined the UN in 1961.

Announcing his country's candidacy last year, President Julius Maada Bio described the move as a step towards fulfilling a desire to promote and sustain global peace.

His government said it wanted to use the country's experience of civil war to promote global peace.

According to the government, the candidacy would also strengthen Africa's efforts for a reformed UN Security Council.

Sierra Leone currently chairs the African Union's Committee of Ten (C-10), which is charged with negotiating the continent's position on UNSC reform. Other members of the committee are Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Congo, Namibia, Zambia, Libya, Algeria, Senegal and Uganda.

Africa wants to have two permanent representatives on the Council and two additional non-permanent seats, as enshrined in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration, also known as the African Common Position.