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LONDON, July 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Foreign ministers from
so-called Group of Four (G-4) failed on Monday to win support from the African
Union (AU) for their own UN Security Council expansion plan at a meeting in
London.
Ministers from the G-4 said that they would work with the AU to formulate a joint proposal for
UN Security Council expansion.
G-4 -- Brazil, Germany, Japan and India, which are
contenders for new permanent seats on the Security Council -- met in London with
AU ministers from Nigeria, Ghana, Libya, Egypt and Algeria, among others.
"We have both come to the conclusion that unless we
work together in producing one draft resolution, the reform of the United
Nations will not go forward," Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji told
reporters after the day-long meeting.
"The agreement is that we will work towards coming
out with a joint draft resolution ultimately," he said, adding that "We have
some common understanding of the elements of the joint proposal."
The ministers only gave vague details of the new plan
and saidthey would all consult with their governments in the coming weeks.
On July 17, the G-4 and the AU met in New York but
failed to reach a compromise on Security Council expansion.
The G-4, which has aspired to be new permanent
members on the expanded council, has hoped to merge its proposal on the council
expansion with that of the AU.
The G-4 resolution calls for an increase of six
permanent members, whose veto power would be frozen for 15 years, and four
non-permanent members in the Security Council.
The AU proposes adding six permanent members, with
the veto power, and five non-permanent members to the council.
The council is currently composed of five
veto-wielding permanent members and 10 rotating elected members with two-year
terms. Enditem |