AYV News, September 30, 2025
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Chairman of ECOWAS, Dr. Julius Maada Bio, called for security to be brought back to West Africa, stressing that Africa was not represented fairly in the UN when 70 percent of the decisions on issues before the Security Council are mostly about Africa.
Speaking on the three military-run countries that left ECOWAS back in January, he said he was engaging each and every one of them in order to bring security back to West Africa and boost economic integration.
Chairman Bio reiterated that Africa was excluded from international organisations and that it was the only continent not represented on a permanent level at the United Nations.
According to Bio, Africa’s representation in the UN is long overdue, given that decisions are being made about its future without our input. “We want two permanent seats and two additional seats at the non-permanent level,” he stated.
Asked about Africa’s input on issues like debt cancellation, Bio said: “We have been excluded from most things, and the international financial institutions are no exception.” Calling for reform of the latter, he said: “We have solutions that are quite practical to our situation, and we should have a voice. We have to give it (ECOWAS) a new lease of life. I want us to play a major role in bringing security back, in making sure that the insecurity that they (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) suffer at the moment is taken care of, but that means very tight engagement with all of them”.
