The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Professor David Francis has during the 39th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union Commission (AUC) robustly defended the present high level interest of His Excellency the President Dr Julius Maada Bio in particular and Sierra Leone in general.
This high level interest involves a bid by Sierra Leone to secure a non-Permanent Seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).ย President Julius Maada Bio has not only developed or attached serious interest in this agenda for a seat at the UNSC on behalf of the country but he is believed to have also been very passionate and determined to fight for a seat at the international level.
But whilst the President through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has been working assiduously to achieve this strong desire for a non-permanent seat at the UNSC, there was a hidden or deliberate mistake embedded in a document of the (AUC). The deliberate mistake involved maintaining the Federal Republic of Nigeria as candidate for a non-Permanent Seat in the UNSC, even though it has withdrawn its bid in favour of Sierra Leone.
This mistake which could be rightly argued to be a road block set to derail or hamper the marathon momentum that has been adopted by His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio was cleverly averted by the superb Foreign Minister, Prof. David Francis.
Professor David Francis swiftly controverted the deliberate mistake and thus robustly brought it to the attention of the AUC Executive Council during the second day of its 39th Ordinary Session held on Friday 15th October 2021 at the Commission’s Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The said mistake was found at paragraph 22 (C) of the French version of the report of the AUC Ministerial Committee on International candidature. The English version had only Sierra Leone as sole candidate for the position from the West African Region.
After the objection and appeal by Minister Prof. David Francis for the Commission to address the inexcusable anomaly, the Commission or the Session was inclined to accept same and so agreed to delete the Federal Republic of Nigeria from the list. Therefore, Sierra Leone has officially become the sole West African region candidate for a Non-Permanent Seat on UNSC.
The objection raised and request madeย by the Sierra Leoneโs Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister received a very loud applaud by colleague Foreign Ministers.
But whilst Professor Davidย Francis celebrated the sole candidature of Sierra Leone, he was at the same time fighting hard to come to terms with the loss of another Sierra Leonean candidate for a position at the AUC and Professor David Francis did state that he was celebrating with mixed feelings.
By Demba Kanji Daramy
Information Attache
Embassy of Sierra Leone
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
