UN: Cyprus and Germany have circulated a draft text which proposes adding seven new members to the UN Security Council, the latest attempt to try to break a deadlock on the issue of expanding the council.
Recent attempts to launch formal negotiations on expanding the council have failed. Last year, however, the president of the UN General Assembly said it was time to try again to break the deadlock and help jump-start formal negotiations.
Germany, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Britain worked on a compromise proposal which attempts to link the many seemingly irreconcilable positions on reforming the council.
The result was a confidential draft proposal, obtained by Reuters, which calls for an expansion of the Security Council to 22 from the present 15.
The draft says that two of the new seats would go to Africa, two to Asia, one to Latin America and the Caribbean, one to western Europe and one to eastern Europe. However, the membership terms are left open, with possibilities ranging from permanent to semi-permanent membership to standard two-year elected membership terms.
The council currently has five permanent veto-wielding members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, considered second World War victors.
Ten non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms based on regions.
Any successful council reform plan would need consensus among the 192 UN members and ratification would take years. -