Reuters
 
African Union introduces UN Council reform measure
Mon Jul 18, 2005 7:49 PM ET
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The African Union on Monday introduced a U.N. resolution on Security Council expansion, despite behind the scenes negotiations on a rival proposal presented by Japan, Brazil, Germany and India.
The draft resolution was a chance for Africa to put forward the case for why it needed permanent seats in the Security Council. But it was not clear whether the resolution would be put to a vote.
Nigeria's envoy, Aminu Bashir Wali, who presented the resolution to the U.N. General assembly called it a reference point for negotiation with other member states and interested groups.
To underline the importance of the quest for council enlargement, foreign ministers from Japan, India, Brazil and Germany, aspirants for permanent council seats, came to New York on Monday to negotiate with foreign ministers or their deputies from Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Libya.
They agreed on a working group in New York to develop compromise proposals by Friday after which the foreign ministers would meet again, probably in Geneva, on July 25.
No vote is expected before July 29 because of discussions in the General Assembly on Secretary-General Kofi Annan's package of reform proposals for the world body ahead of a September U.N. summit.
Most Africa speakers said Africa was the only continent that did not have a permanent seat in the current 15-member Security Council. Latin America does not have a permanent seat, but the Africans consider the United States a representative of the Americas, while South American countries do not.
If we fail to seize this opportunity, the credibility and legitimacy of the Security Council and the entire system of global government will continue to erode, said South Africa's representative, Xolisa Mabhongo.
But Algeria's U.N. envoy, Abdallah Baali, said the General Assembly should not yield to artificial timetables that one would impose upon us, a position similar to those who want to delay any Security Council reform and an indication of a split in the 53-member African Union.
Germany, Japan, Brazil and India have called on the General Assembly to enlarge the Security Council from 15 to 25. This plan has six new permanent seats, including two for Africa, but new members would not have veto power.
The African Union's draft resolution asks for the council to be enlarged to 26 seats, one more nonpermanent seat than the four aspirants' proposal. It also advocates six new permanent seats but with veto privileges.
Expanding the Security Council has been under discussion for a dozen years without a solution, mainly because each region or nation has its own aspirations. The issue was given momentum this year by Annan who argued the council was unrepresentative and should be reformed before the summit.
Without African Union support, the four aspirants will not get enough votes for their resolution.
It's not possible for any group to get two-thirds by itself, Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Sing said on Sunday. So we have to find a way for our differences not only to narrow, but to disappear.
Among the current five permanent council members with veto power, the United States and China are lobbying against all the plans under consideration. France and Britain support the four aspirants. The last step in changing the council composition needs approval from the five powers.
In Berlin on Monday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said the fact that no deal was reached on Sunday was not surprising.
Nobody expected that the African Union, which has its own resolution proposal, would quietly file it away after a talk with the G-4 foreign ministers, he said.