African Union wants end to veto power in Security Council reforms
Regional-UN, Politics, 7/8/2005

The African Union in its summit in Libya this week decided to request two seats on the UN Security Council reserved for the African continent. The African Union seeks that the veto right of the five permanent members on the Security Council to be abolished, diplomats said.

In light of these demands, it is not clear how these African requests will impact on the so-called G-4 countries (Germany, India, Japan, and Brazil) in their coordinated bid to gain seats at the Council. The African Union holds 53 votes, a large portion of the needed 2/3 majority of countries in the UN General Assembly, to start the approval process to change the charter of the United Nations.

The process of changing the UN charter also requires that the five permanent Security Council members have their countries' legislative bodies approve the new change, in essence, giving these five countries a veto right over any change to the UN charter.

There are countries that expressed concerns over the G-4 group joining the Security Council. China has reservations about Japan, Pakistan about India, South Korea and Italy also have concerns that will complicate the issues involved.

UN Spokesman Farhan Haq told ArabicNews.com yesterday that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has stressed the need of adopting the other UN proposed reforms regardless of what is agreed upon with the Security Council reforms.

Haq said that the UN proposed reforms are about "what kind of format UN member countries want for the UN Security Council."

Previous Stories:
  Sirte summit calls for two permanent seats in the Security Council   (7/6/2005)
  US agrees to expansion, continues efforts to shift focus from real Security Council reform   (6/17/2005)
  Proposed UN reforms would improve performance, Annan says   (4/25/2005)
  Al-Qathafi: Security Council reform problems can be overcome by genuine UN democratic reform   (4/11/2005)

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