Luanda, Angola – November 25, 2025 – African leaders renewed their decades-long demand for permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council and equitable seats in global financial institutions, arguing that the current system reflects outdated colonial-era power structures and marginalizes a continent of over 1.4 billion people.
At the 7th African Union–European Union Ministerial Summit in Luanda, African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf invoked the 2005 Ezulwini Consensus — Africa’s unified position on UN reform — declaring that the continent “continues to request its seat at this table.” The consensus demands two permanent UNSC seats with full veto rights and five additional non-permanent seats for African states.
Youssouf described an international landscape marked by “uncertainty,” where rules-based order is eroding, international law is being undermined, and the Security Council is frequently paralyzed by competing interests among permanent members. He insisted that Africa can no longer remain a spectator while decisions affecting its security and development are taken elsewhere.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly endorsed the African position, calling the absence of permanent African membership on the Security Council a “historic injustice” that must be corrected. He pointed to the Pact for the Future, adopted by world leaders in September 2024, which explicitly commits to granting Africa permanent seats as part of broader UN reform. Guterres warned that a fragmented multipolar world without strong multilateral institutions risks repeating the catastrophic failures of 1914, when a multipolar Europe descended into war.
“Multipolarity in itself is not a guarantee of peace and prosperity,” he stressed, urging the creation of an “interconnected multipolarity” built on reformed institutions, inclusive economic networks, and effective political coordination.
Guterres highlighted ongoing conflicts across Africa — including Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Mali, Libya, and the Sahel — as evidence of the Security Council’s inability to act decisively when permanent members are divided. He reiterated support for predictable, sustainable funding of African Union-led peace operations, a principle already endorsed by the Council itself in 2023.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used the summit to distinguish Europe’s approach from that of other global investors. Without naming China directly, she criticized models that “drill, mine, and take the profits away” while leaving behind unsustainable debt and few local jobs. She insisted that Europe’s partnership is based on local processing, skills transfer, and mutual benefit.
Von der Leyen announced expanded EU support for the African Continental Free Trade Area, major infrastructure projects such as the Lobito Corridor connecting Angola, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Atlantic ports, and new investments in mineral processing in Namibia and Zambia, pharmaceutical manufacturing from Senegal to Rwanda, and sub-Saharan data-cable networks.
She drew attention to a stark energy injustice: despite possessing 60 percent of the world’s best solar resources, Africa received only 2 percent of the roughly $2 trillion invested globally in clean energy in 2024. Six hundred million Africans still lack electricity, and four out of five households cook with traditional biomass. The European Commission pledged over €400 million for clean cooking solutions and launched the “Scaling Up Renewables in Africa” initiative in partnership with South Africa to bring electricity to millions.
European Council President António Costa described the African Union and European Union as two influential geopolitical blocs whose cooperation can help shape a more balanced world order.
Host and current African Union Chairperson, Angolan President João Lourenço, focused on debt and development finance, calling for “a new vision” in relations between Africa and international financial institutions. He argued that high borrowing costs and rigid repayment schedules are strangling African economies and preventing investment in critical infrastructure, health, and education.
The summit concluded with a joint declaration committing both sides to work toward UN Security Council reform that includes permanent African membership, reform of the global financial architecture to make it more responsive to developing countries’ needs, and deeper cooperation on trade, investment, energy transition, and peace and security.
The Luanda meeting underscored Africa’s growing confidence and unity on the global stage. With 28 percent of the United Nations’ membership and a young, rapidly urbanizing population, African leaders made clear that the continent will no longer accept exclusion from the tables where the world’s most consequential decisions are made.
