UNITED NATIONS, July 8 (Xinhuanet) -- A group of countries which oppose the expansion of the Security Council's permanent membership circulated on Friday a draft resolution calling an increase of 10 elected council members with renewable two-year terms.

    Italy, on behalf of "Uniting for Consensus" (UFC) Movement, circulated the draft to other UN member states and the General Assembly president, Jean Ping.

    The draft proposes expanding the council's non-permanent members to 20 from the present 10, with all non-permanent members on the enlarged council entitled for immediate re-election.

    The Security Council is currently composed of five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia --and 10 elected members with two-year terms, half of which are rotated annually.

    Under the draft resolution, almost the same as a working paper put forward earlier by the UFC, Asia and Africa would each get three new non-permanent seats, Latin America would gain two, and the Eastern Europe and Western Europe would each obtain one.

    The draft contains amendments to the UN Charter to reflect the enlargement of the council's non-permanent membership, and calls upon UN member states to ratify the amendments by Sept. 2007. 

    The measure is widely seen as a counteract to a framework draft resolution submitted to the General Assembly Wednesday by Japan, Germany, India and Brazil, known as G-4.

    The framework draft, which the General Assembly is going to debate on Monday, calls for an increase of six new permanent members and four non-permanent members on the Security Council. It provides for a 15-year freeze on veto power for the new permanent members.

    Foreign ministers of the G-4 will meet in London on their bid for the council permanent membership. It was reported that they would probably agree to put the frame resolution to a vote in the 191-nation assembly around July 20.

    The G-4 is also planning to negotiate with the African Union (AU) to coordinate their positions toward the council enlargement.

    The AU circulated its own draft resolution on Thursday, suggesting an increase of six permanent council members with veto power and five elected members, two of them for Africa.

    Any resolution adopted by the General Assembly would need to receive a yes vote of two-thirds of members, or the support of 128 members. Enditem