UN Security Council reform looks doomed
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-16 07:20

The G4 tabled a resolution on Monday, but after two days of debate they found more opposition than they anticipated. The G4 foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on Sunday to decide whether to press ahead.

The Security Council is dominated by five members with permanent seats and a veto: the US, Britain, France, Russia and China, the World War II victors in 1945. The other 10 are rotated on a two-year basis.

The G4 proposes six permanent seats without veto power and four non-permanent seats. But, according to the security council source, the G4 is being opposed by Argentina and Chile, which want to block Brazil; Italy and, to a lesser extent, Spain, which are reluctant to endorse Germany; and Pakistan, which is intent on stopping India. The G4 is also being opposed at present by all 53 states from Africa - itself almost enough to prevent the necessary majority.

George Bush, meanwhile, has not forgiven the German chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, for his opposition to the Iraq War. Shirin Tahir-Kheli, a US envoy responsible for UN reform, told the general assembly that the US would vote against the resolution. Tahir-Kheli acknowledged that 2005 was not 1945, but said "security council reform alone will not address the most pressing problems of the organisation."

But Emyr Jones Parry, the British ambassador to UN, while making it clear the British Government would not give up its place or its veto, told the general assembly Britain would vote for the G4 resolution.

The African countries on Thursday tabled a resolution of their own proposing a 26-member security council in which Africa would have four places instead of the three proposed by the G4. Gunter Pleuger, Germany's UN ambassador, still insisted: "We feel that the votes are there." But the main hope left for the G4 foreign ministers is to try to reach a compromise with the African countries.

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