Macron’s Africa trip ended in Ethiopia on Wednesday with meetings centered on how global institutions represent the continent, with diplomats pointing to the U.N. Security Council as the most visible example of underrepresentation. In Ethiopia, Macron held talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and later met African Union Commission Chairperson Mahamoud Ali Youssouf and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, the readout from the meetings said.
The discussions focused on inclusive international governance, including what the readout described as a shared recognition of the need for African representation. Macron, who visited Egypt, Kenya and Ethiopia during the broader trip, has argued for better representation of Africa in international institutions, including on the Security Council.
The trip’s diplomacy also drew on Macron’s remarks at an earlier event, the Africa Forward Summit, which was co-hosted by France and Kenya. During opening remarks at the summit—held for the first time in an English-speaking country—Macron recognized the need for permanent seats for Africa on the Security Council.
A peace and security declaration issued at the end of the Africa Forward Summit added more emphasis to the reform agenda, calling for “the urgent need for a comprehensive reform of the U.N. Security Council to make it more effective and representative.” The summit declaration reflected a longstanding African argument that Security Council representation should reflect contemporary global realities, including a continental population exceeding 1.4 billion people that critics say has been excluded from permanent decision-making power.
At the Ethiopia meetings, Guterres said the world would benefit from a more inclusive Security Council. He pointed to what he described as the Council’s geographic imbalance, saying it has “three European permanent members, one North American and one Asian,” and adding: “No Latin American, no African is obviously a Security Council that has a problem of legitimacy, and that brings with it a problem of effectiveness.”
After the meeting between Macron and Abiy Ahmed, a separate economic announcement followed: a new loan funding agreement worth $63.9 million for Ethiopia’s green energy investment and digitalization program. Macron’s trip also highlighted investment and growth goals discussed during the Africa Forward Summit, where he said the French government and private sector would mobilize investments worth $27 billion to spur inclusive growth across the continent.
The cluster of meetings in Ethiopia brought together European, African and U.N. leadership around the same core issue—whether the Security Council’s composition should change—and tied it to an approach that officials described as inclusive governance. For Macron, the final stop of the trip placed the question of Africa’s representation in the spotlight at the same time as other diplomatic efforts, including financing for Ethiopia’s energy and digital transition.