UNGA 79 and The Future of Stability in the Sahel

The 79^th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA79), held in September 2024, is remarkable in many ways, two of which are important for Africa. The first remarkable significance of UNGA79 is the adoption of the Pact for the Future as an outcome document of the Summit of the Future. The Pact aligns with the theme of this year’s high-level General Debate, which is: “Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations.” The Pact encapsulates negotiated international consensus for addressing contemporary challenges of the 21^st century while preparing the international system for future challenges. A second remarkable significance of UNGA79 is that it amplified the call for reform of the UN Security Council to enable greater inclusion and representation of African countries. Earlier, the United States had announced that it would support the addition of two permanent seats on the UN Security Council for Africa.

Despite the laudable outputs and opportunities offered by UNGA79, as evidenced by the Pact for the Future and debate on the addition of two permanent seats on the UN Security Council for Africa, UNGA79 falls short of expected attention to the critical challenge of stability in Africa, particularly the Sahel region. This edition of Nextier SPD Policy Weekly foregrounds the crisis of instability in the Sahel and identifies the gap in existing global initiatives for addressing the crisis in the region.

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