Experts in international relations and diplomacy give a positive note to Mozambique’s first year on the United Nations Security Council, but emphasise the need for more alignment with the African Union on global issues and a different stance in domestic politics to further improve its international image.
It was almost a year ago that Mozambique was elected to the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member. He was elected by consensus as one of the two representatives of the African continent, with the mission of bringing the voice of Africans to that body, a task that national analysts consider to be positive.
“All in all, we can, without any doubt, assume that the African continent has been well represented so far,” said Muhamad Yassine, an analyst and specialist in international relations and diplomacy, pointing to the agenda that Mozambique has defended at the level of that body, namely the climate issue, the fight against violent extremism, multilateralism and dialogue to achieve peace.
One of the highlights of Mozambique’s historic presence in the UN’s highest body was its presidency of the Security Council in March, where, according to Hilário Chacate, a lecturer in international relations and diplomacy at Joaquim Chissano University, Mozambique managed to defend an agenda of global interest.
“If we look at the agenda that Mozambique put forward during its presidency of the Security Council, it was extremely assertive and extremely relevant,” he said.
Even so, Chacate believes that Mozambique’s performance could have been even better, were it not for the internal situation that clashes with the rhetoric it defends at the UN.
“I think that the lack of alignment or conciliation between its actions in the Security Council and the government’s stance internally, namely the electoral conflicts, the feeling that we have institutions captured and dependent on political power, namely the courts, the Constitutional Council, the National Electoral Commission, the actions of the Police of the Republic, have somewhat dented the country’s image,” he emphasised.
With a year left in office, the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, together with the record of more and more coups d’état on the African continent, are challenges that, according to Yassine, require Mozambique to cement its links with the African Union in order to take a fully aligned position on the conflicts to the UN.
