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Nations meet to pound out proposal to expand UNSC
LONDON - Foreign Ministers representing a group of nations seeking seats on the United Nations Security Council tried to hammer out a proposal on Monday to expand the powerful body. Foreign Ministers from Germany, India, Brazil, Japan and several African countries met in London to try and come up with a plan they hope to jointly present to the United Nations in New York for ratification before September.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji, whose country heads the 53-nation African Union, has described the one-day meeting as “very, very crucial.”
Why, the fate of the whole UN might depend on it ...
The so-called Group of Four countries - Brazil, Germany, India and Japan - disagree with African nations over how many members should be added to the Council and whether to press for new permanent members with veto powers. The Group of Four countries do not want the new members to have veto powers, while the African countries think they should. African nations are willing to compromise if the existing permanent members give their veto powers.

The Group of Four countries have introduced a resolution to expand the Security Council to 25 members, adding six permanent members without veto power and four non-permanent members. The African Union has proposed expanding the Council to 26, adding six permanent members with veto power, and five non-permanent members.

Any resolution would require approval from two-thirds of the 191 UN member states. Adeniji has said he is “reasonably optimistic” about coming up with a plan that would win enough votes.
Posted by: Steve White 2005-07-26
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=125010