Kenya defeats Djibouti to secure non-permanent seat at UN Security Council
Jun 19, 2020
New York [USA], June 19 : Kenya on Thursday (local time) defeated Djibouti to clinch the last African seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) after the UN General Assembly (UNGA) failed to choose between the two candidates during first round.
Backed by the African Union, Kenya garnered 129 votes against Djibouti's 62 and will join Tunisia and Niger at the Council for two years, 2021-2022, Al Jazeera reported.
In his final plea to UN General Assembly delegates, President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday said Kenya would use its stint at the Security Council to advance the "pan-Africanist agenda of global peace, solidarity and multilateralism."
The first vote was held on Wednesday but no clear winner was obtained, forcing a second round of voting and failed to secure the required two-thirds majority of 128 votes.
Kenya now joins Norway, Ireland, India and Mexico, which were elected on Wednesday as non-permanent members for a two-year term starting on January 1, 2021.
The East African country will replace South Africa.
While most of the UN operations are currently conducted online, the voting was done by a secret ballot in New York.
Each of the 193 delegations was allocated a chance to cast their ballots in the Assembly Hall at designated times distributed throughout the day.
