June 18: Kenya beats Djibouti for non-permanent UNSC seat
Kenya defeated Djibouti on Thursday for an African seat on the U.N. Security Council in a second round of voting held under dramatically different procedures because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AP
June 17: Kenya, Djibouti split regional votes for non-permanent UNSC seat
Kenya and Djibouti will later today know which of them will take Africa’s non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, UNSC.
The Security Council is the U.N.’s most powerful body and has five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — and 10 members elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms, with seats allocated to regional groups.
Winning a seat on the council is considered a pinnacle of achievement for many countries because it gives them a strong voice on issues of international peace and security ranging from conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Ukraine to the nuclear threat posed by North Korea and Iran to attacks by extremist groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
Normally, ambassadors from the 193 U.N. member states would meet in the horseshoe-shaped assembly chamber at U.N. headquarters overlooking New York’s East River and vote by secret ballot for new Security Council members.
