Somalia has been elected to serve on the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member for two years.
Somalia was joined by Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, and Panama after a secret ballot session in the General Assembly.
The newly elected council members will start their terms on January 1, replacing those whose two-year terms end on December 31, which includes Mozambique, Japan, Ecuador, Malta, and Switzerland.
They will join the five veto-wielding permanent members—the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, and France — and the five countries elected last year — Algeria, Guyana, South Korea, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia.
Council criticism
The Security Council is charged with maintaining international peace and security, although the council has been criticised for its inability to take action over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Announcing the elections’ results, U.N. General Assembly President Dennis Francis, said, "In a secret ballot, the elected countries secured the required two-thirds majority of Member States present and voting in the 193-member General Assembly."
Following the news, the United Nations in Somalia congratulated the Somali government and its people "on their country's election today to a seat on the UN Security Council for 2025-2026."
"Somalia has come a long way over the past three decades on its path to peace, prosperity, and security," said the UN Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative for Somalia, James Swan. "Election to a seat on the Security Council is recognition of that commendable progress."
"Somalia’s experiences place it in a unique position to contribute to Council deliberations on international peace and security," Swan added.
Non-permanent members
Somalia and the other newly elected members will join existing non-permanent members Algeria, Guyana, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia, whose terms started in January.
According to the United Nations, the 10 non-permanent seats on the Security Council are distributed according to four regional groupings: Africa and Asia; Eastern Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Western European and other States group.
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