Africa to seek UN Council seats

There are currently 15 UN Security Council members

African Union foreign ministers have agreed to seek two permanent seats and five rotating seats for the continent on an expanded UN Security Council.

An AU official said the candidate countries had not yet been agreed but the issue was not expected to divide the 53-member union.

The main contenders are South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt, say correspondents.

UN chief Kofi Annan says the council's current make-up reflects the balance of power at the end of World War II.

A new plan for adding 10 seats - six of them permanent and four non-permanent - has been put forward by Japan, India, Brazil and Germany.

They say two of the permanent seats should be allocated to Africa.

The AU agreement was announced by the group's Peace and Security Commissioner, Said Djinnit, ahead of a two-day summit in Libya next week.

He said a draft declaration was being prepared "restating the position of Africa" on UN reform and calling for two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats on the Security Council.

'Today's realities'

Eight African nations have put themselves forward as candidates, but it is thought the three regional powerhouses - Nigeria in the west, South Africa in the south and Egypt in the north - are the main contenders.

Mr Djinnit said Africa would "walk in unity on the issue".

"Africa has methods of selecting its representatives and we do not expect the issue to divide the continent," he said.

"We are determined that this will be done in a way that preserves our solidarity."

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan set out proposals for a number of sweeping reforms to the organisation in March which he said were needed to meet "today's realities".

He gave his backing to the idea of expanding the 15-member Security Council to 24.

Currently, there are only five permanent members with veto powers - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China. The other 10 nations rotate for two-year terms.

Mr Annan said the make-up of the council, which has the power to impose sanctions and to endorse military action, was weighted towards the world's most powerful industrial nations at the end of World War II.