Boakai Tells UN General Assembly: "80 Years of Patience Is Enough" on Security Council Reform

President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr. told the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24, 2026, that the international system must be reformed to give Africa a permanent voice on the UN Security Council, declaring: "80 years of patience is enough. The time for structural reform is now."

Speaking during the Assembly's general debate, held this year under the theme "Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation," Boakai said Africa deserves "no fewer than two permanent seats" on the Council with full rights, including veto power, plus additional non-permanent seats. He argued that roughly 80 percent of the Security Council's agenda concerns Africa, yet the continent's 1.5 billion people and 54 UN member states have no permanent representation on the body. "Africa remains without a single permanent seat on the organ responsible for global peace," he said, adding that "correcting the imbalance is not a favour for Africa. It is necessary to restore United Nations trust."

Boakai noted that Liberia was among four African nations that signed the UN Charter in 1945, framing the country's UN Security Council reform push as part of a decades-long commitment to the institution. Liberia is currently serving a non-permanent Security Council term, its first in 65 years, and is due to hold the Council's rotating presidency in December.

Beyond Security Council reform, the President also called for changes to the World Bank and IMF, citing unsustainable debt burdens and shrinking fiscal space for developing nations, and raised climate justice, artificial intelligence regulation and the fight against organized crime, cyber threats and narcotics trafficking in West Africa.

The speech was one of several high-level engagements for Liberia's delegation during this week's UN General Assembly session in New York, alongside bilateral meetings on maritime cooperation and investment.