Annan supports larger, democratic U.N. council

Jul 14, 2005, 9:31 GMT

New York - United Nations members should transform the U.N. Security Council into a larger and more democratic body, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday, in the first indication that he would endorse an enlarged council against the wishes of the United States.

"We have to admit that the council can be more democratic and more representative," Annan told reporters. "There is a democracy deficit in the U.N. governance that has to be corrected."

He said the U.N. system should stop lecturing the world about democracy and apply it at home first.

"It is about time to apply it to ourselves and ensure that there is effective representation," he said. "I believe the membership should consider this expansion very seriously."

Annan said he can live with the proposals being discussed in the U.N. General Assembly because discussions in coming days would narrow down the differences. He called for improving the working methods of the council while expanding that body.

"It can be done," he said.

The United States on Tuesday rejected a major proposal by Germany, India, Brazil and Japan - known as G4 - to enlarge the current council from 15 to 25 members, with the addition of six new permanent members without veto power and four new short-term members.

The council's current five permanent members - the U.S., China, Russia, France and Britain - enjoy the veto privilege and have been criticized as an elite club that cares more for their own national interests than that of the rest of the world. The council also has 10 non-permanent members elected only for two-year terms.

The five permanent members have also opposed sharing their power with other countries.

Negotiations aimed at reforming and making the council a more democratic body have dragged on for 12 years.

A U.S. representative, Shirin Tahir-Kheli, a senior adviser on U.N. reform for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on Tuesday urged the General Assembly to reject the proposal from the G4 because it was premature and having a divisive effect on the U.N. membership.

A top German official on Wednesday signalled his country's intent to push on for expansion of the council despite clear opposition expressed by the United States.

"If we do not push through this reform now, the United Nations will suffer a heavy loss of standing" in the world, said Volker Ruehe, chairman of the foreign relations committee in the German Bundestag, or parliament.

Ruehe told reporters he was optimistic that the five current veto- powers on the Security Council would not be able to hold back a two- thirds majority will of the assembly.

Debate has heated up this week in the U.N. General Assembly over the G4 draft resolution, with opposition coming from the group, Uniting for Consensus, headed by Pakistan, Italy and China; and by the Africa Union, which plans to present its own version of an enlarged council.

The A.U. will officially present its draft resolution to the General Assembly on Friday.

Nigeria's Foreign Minister Olu Adeniji, the current chair of the A.U., will give an overview of the A.U. position on the reform in a news conference on Thursday at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The A.U. has called for enlarging the Security Council to 26 members, with six new permanent members and five on short terms.

Washington supports overhauling the U.N.'s management and bureaucracy before making changes in the Security Council. Any changes in the U.N. structure need two-thirds approval from the 191- member assembly.

The G4's bid for permanent membership is supported by Britain and France, two of the current five permanent members.

On Tuesday, Tahir-Kheli promised the U.S. would "work" with enlargement designs "only in the right way and at the right time". She also cited the difficulty of getting the U.S. Senate to ratify changes to the U.N. Charter if the Security Council is altered.

German Ambassador to the U.N. Gunter Pleuger, disagreed, saying the G4 draft resolution would be the lynchpin for comprehensive reform of the U.N. system and give "a strong political impulse to achieving substantive results" when heads of state gather in September.

The heated debate prompted U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to call on governments to "calm down".

"We are at an early stage of discussion, and one day of discussion will not make a General Assembly session," Annan told reporters Tuesday. "We should calm down and not get excited about it. These are mature men and women."