New York - Germany, Japan, India and Brazil on Wednesday set in motion a U.N. General Assembly vote on their hotly disputed bid for permanent seats on the powerful Security Council.
The four countries asked that their proposal be translated into all official U.N. languages and for the 191-nation assembly to start a debate on reforming the council next week, probably ending with a vote at the end of next week, U.N. diplomats said.
The group, known as G4, wants to enlarge the council from 15 to 25 countries with the addition of six new permanent members and four elected for two-year terms.
Two African countries would be offered permanent seats along with G4. The African Union summit in Sirte, Libya, this week had discussed the permanent seat offers, but it was not known whether leaders had agreed on the two countries. The A.U. planned to present its own draft resolution on reform to the General Assembly.
The General Assembly vote would designate countries that will "exercise the functions and responsibilities of permanent members" of the U.N. Security Council.
Permanent members would be elected by a two-thirds majority, or 128 votes, by the assembly. The G4 has not yet revealed how many votes it has among U.N. members.
The G4 is opposed by a group known as "United for Consensus," led by Pakistan, China and Italy. The consensus group favoured the enlargement with the addition of 10 short-term members.
The current council has five veto-wielding permanent members - the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - and 10 non- permanent members elected for two-year term.
The G4, while demanding a share of power with the current five permanent and nuclear powers, has renounced use of the veto for at least 15 years.
Council enlargement is part of an overall U.N. reform, including top management, the bureaucracy, the oversight department and the creation of a Human Rights Council to replace the much criticized U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
The General Assembly's annual session starts September 13.
