PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is planning a whirlwind tour across the world as Zimbabwe launches an ambitious bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 2027.
This was revealed by Foreign Affairs and International Trade minister Frederick Shava in his opening remarks to the Senior Management and Ambassadors’ Retreat and Strategic Planning Review in Bulawayo this week.
The UNSC consists of 15 members — five permanent and 10 non-permanent members — with the latter being elected by the UN General Assembly for two-year terms while five retire each year.
Mnangagwa launched an aggressive engagement and reengagement drive after winning the 2018 harmonised elections including concerted efforts to rejoin the Commonwealth.
“As we continue pushing for a renewed multilateralism fit for purpose and fit for its time, it is our responsibility, from wherever our workstations, to lobby for Zimbabwe to rejoin the UNSC.
“While His Excellency and myself would have whirlwind tours across the world to campaign for Zimbabwe as we draw towards 2026, the time to start lobbying for support is now. If it means trading horses or supporting other countries’ candidatures for international appointment in return for support for Zimbabwe’s bid, then let us begin doing that now,” Shava said.
Entrusted with maintaining international peace and security by the UN Charter, membership of the UNSC brings significant responsibility and the opportunity for global influence.
The council is called upon to tackle crises around the world and has the power to impose legally binding measures on UN members, including measures related to the use of force. The council is also responsible for overseeing the complex and dangerous work of the UN’s more than two dozen peacekeeping and political missions.
Many see the council as dominated by its five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), who, in addition to their veto power, can leverage their tenure, institutional memory and greater resources to determine council outcomes.
Despite this perception, the council’s 10 non-permanent members, collectively and individually, can, and do, make tangible contributions to the council and have the ability to influence its decisions.
Current and past non-permanent members have emphasised that being an effective non-permanent member requires seizing the opportunities provided by the council’s procedures, as well as the informal methods by which much of its work is undertaken. Shava noted that Zimbabwe’s diplomats had achieved Mnangagwa’s foreign policy objective to reengage the international community for Zimbabwe to rejoin the community of nations.
“We have achieved that goal. Zimbabwe has been readmitted into the Community of Nations. I have to declare that Zimbabwe is now a responsible and active member of the international community,” he said.
The Foreign Affairs minister added that rejoining the international community was also a precursor to bigger things to come.
He also reiterated that Zimbabwe would not be drawn into the “new Cold War” between Russia and the United States.
-Newsday