Editor's Review

  • Kenya was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
  • As a non-permanent member of the Security Council, Kenya will serve a two-year term starting Jan.1.

The Kenyan flag will among those to be raised in a ceremony for new United Nations Security Council members.

According to the UN, the new members' flags will be raised during a ceremony that will be held on Monday, January 4, 2021.

The said ceremony will be at 8 pm local time.

In June 2020, Kenya was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, after defeating Djibouti for a seat designated for African countries.

During the first round of voting, neither country received the required two-thirds majority in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. But in the second round, where a two-thirds majority of 128 votes was required, Kenya received 129 votes and Djibouti received 62 votes.

Winning Seat

Kenya, which was endorsed by the African Union, joined Norway, Ireland, India and Mexico, which were elected as non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms starting Jan.1.

The 15-member Security Council has five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — and 10 elected members with seats allocated to regional groups and five new members elected every year.

Because of the council’s mandate to ensure international peace and security and its powers including authorizing war and imposing sanctions, winning a seat is considered a big achievement for many countries.