Liberia counts down to its first UN Security Council presidency since 1961, with Boakai to chair a maritime-security debate

ACCRA — Liberia will take the presidency of the United Nations Security Council in December, its first since it last sat on the Council in 1961. The government launched a “Road to the United Nations Security Council Presidency” programme in Monrovia on Monday, setting out events leading up to a signature debate on maritime security that President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is due to chair on 3 December, The Liberian Investigator reported via allAfrica.

“The international order is being shaped now, and Liberia is at the table,” Boakai said at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the government marked UN Day under the theme “Liberia on the United Nations Security Council: From Sustaining Peace at Home to Advancing Peace and Security Globally”. He said Liberia would draw on its experience of ending civil conflict and rebuilding to contribute to international peace and security, and that developing countries must have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect them.

From sanctions target to the chair

Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti said the presidency belonged to the country rather than to any single government. “This is not about an event; it is about a process through history,” she said. She recalled the civil-war years, when the Council imposed sanctions on Liberia covering arms, diamonds, timber and travel, and cited the lifting of the last UN sanctions in 2016 as a milestone. She also credited the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace and the former UN mission in the country.

The calendar begins with a diplomatic briefing and reception on 30 October. It includes the unveiling of a model for a proposed National War Memorial, the launch of a feminist foreign policy on 17 November, a compendium of Liberia’s peace agreements, an event recognising seafarers and a model Security Council debate for young people, according to the Liberian Observer.

The A3 in the chair

The presidency rotates monthly among the Council’s 15 members in English alphabetical order. Under the UN’s 2026 schedule, Liberia follows Latvia, which presides in November. Liberia’s term runs to the end of 2027. In New York, its permanent representative, Lewis G. Brown II, has been coordinating both the A3, the Council’s three African members, and the ten elected members, the Liberian foreign ministry has said.

AB24’s reading from Accra: for a maritime nation that runs one of the world’s largest ship registries, choosing maritime security for its signature event plays to its strengths. Piracy, illegal fishing and attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Guinea and the Red Sea are files on which an African chair can set the agenda. How much a one-month presidency can achieve will depend on whether the debate leads to a Council product rather than a set of speeches.

Sources: The Liberian Investigator via allAfrica, 28 Oct 2026; Liberian Observer, Oct 2026; UN Security Council presidency schedule, 2026; Liberia Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

— AB24 · Accra