African leaders approve resolution on UN reform

African leaders approved a resolution Tuesday demanding two permanent seats with veto rights for Africa in an expanded UN Security Council.

The resolution, reached at the fifth African Union (AU) summit held in the Libyan port city Sirte, reasserted the continent's common position on the UN reform, calling for a fair and equitable geographical representation of the African continent in the UN Security Council.

Complaining that Africa remains the only continent without a permanent seat in the Security Council, the resolution voiced Africa's aspiration to seek the continent's "effective representation" in the Security Council in order to "reflect present world realities."

The 53 AU member states agreed to ask for an increase of UN Security Council seats from 15 to 26, with six of the 11 new members being permanent ones with veto rights and the rest five non-permanent ones.

Two of the six new veto-wielding permanent seats shall go to African countries while another two to Asia, one to Latin America and Caribbean and one to Western Europe, according to the resolution.

As to the five new non-permanent seats, Africa will seek two with the rest divided among Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, said the resolution.

Currently, African countries hold three non-permanent seats.

However, the two-day summit sidestepped the selection of candidates for the new Security Council seats in order to preserve the continent's unity and solidarity, according to an AU spokesman.

So far, African countries including South Africa, Egypt, Libya, Angola, Senegal, Nigeria and Gambia have announced intention to bid.

In addition, African leaders urged the UN to carry out a comprehensive reform in line with the ideals of the UN Charter for a fairer world based on "universalism, equity and regional balance."

They also stressed the need to strengthen the UN General Assembly and the Security Council and improve the efficiency of the UN organs.

The resolution is to be submitted to the UN General Assembly due to be held in September with UN reform and poverty reduction topping the agenda.

Africa's proposal on the expansion of the Security Council which stands at the pivot of UN reform runs different from that put forward by Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, dubbed the Group of Four.

The G4 called for an increase of 10 seats in the Security Council -- six new permanent seats and four non-permanent ones.

Four permanent seats will go to themselves, with two other new permanent seats to go to African nations. They will not ask for veto rights for new permanent seats for 15 years. The four countries have been waiting to submit their proposal after the AU summit.

The G-4's resolution, however, has been strongly opposed by Italy, Pakistan, South Korea, Mexico and dozens of other nations, which favor increasing the non-permanent council seats from 10 to 20 and call for consensus on the council reform to avoid a rift among the UN membership.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has set this year end as the deadline for reaching a decision on reforming the Security Council, which has the word on war, sanctions and peace keeping.

African votes carry heavy weight in deciding the fate of the UN reform, especially that of reform in the Security Council. Any resolution on reforming the UN Security Council will have to first win two-thirds of the votes in the 191-member UN General Assembly where stand 53 African countries.

Source: Xinhua