Calls to reform the UN Security Council came up repeatedly during this year’s General Debate. Assembly President Khalilur Rahman set the terms on opening day: “Africa needs to be at the table, not on the menu.” President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone said the Council “still reflects the world of 1945” and cannot be legitimate while an entire continent is permanently absent from its highest level of decision-making—a point Kenya’s William Ruto made in nearly the same words. South Africa’s Ronald Lamola called permanent African seats “long overdue”; Japan’s Sanae Takaichi, pressing Tokyo’s own case, urged expansion of both the permanent and non-permanent categories.

These demands are not new, and King Mswati III of Eswatini said so from the rostrum: “How many more years should African leaders travel to New York and stand before this Assembly and call for fair representation in the Security Council?” The Assembly created a working group on Council reform in 1993; the African Union fixed the continent’s position—two permanent seats with veto rights and five non-permanent seats—in the Ezulwini Consensus of 2005.