SOUTH AFRICAN President Cyril Ramaphosa called on Saturday for radical change to the United Nations (UN), including to the security council.

Speaking at the closing of the Global Progressive Mobilisation event in the Spanish city of Barcelona, President Ramaphosa said: “The UN cannot continue operating in the same way that it has operated in the past.”

The South African leader blasted the absence of permanent representation for the African continent, Latin America or “large countries like India” on the world body’s security council.

He said: “They have to be represented and they have to have a voice,” before saying that this is key to a more peaceful world and to fighting inequality.

President Ramaphosa said the lack of representation from the global South means that there are “a few countries” that exercise the right to veto over “everything that is progress” in the world.

There are five permanent members of the security council: China, France, Russia, the United States and Britain, all with the right to veto decisions. In addition, there are 10 non-permanent members of the council.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also joined the call for reform of the security council.

Lula told the gathering in Barcelona that the five permanent members of the council must change their behaviour after failing to stop the war in Iran.

He said: “We cannot wake up every morning and go to bed every night with a tweet from a president threatening the world and declaring wars,” in a clear reference to US President Donald Trump.

President Ramaphosa also called for reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

He accused both financial institutions of only representing “Western interests.”

He urged unity across the global South to defend peace and highlighted the need for a resurgence of global progressive forces to counter the growth of far-right movements and to address the concerns of marginalised communities.