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| Foreign Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Syed
Hamid Albar, left, is greeted by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
during their meeting at the United Nations in New York, Tuesday, May
3, 2005, in conjunction with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons. (AP） |
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday it would be
"utopian " to think that the
five permanent members of the Security Council would support reforms
giving other nations the same veto power they now wield in the chief U.N.
decision-making body.
Annan told a meeting of the International Women's Forum that everyone
agreed the Security Council needs to be reformed to reflect current world
realities, but that was where consensus ended.
"When it comes to the details you run into some very serious
divisions," he said.
In its current composition, the Security Council has 15 members, five
of whom are permanent and wield the power to veto any resolution - France,
Britain, China, Russia and the United States.
Annan has proposed two ways of reforming the Security Council. One
would add six permanent seats, while the other would create a tier of
semi-permanent seats. Neither option would give new members a veto, even
if they were permanent.
Annan said he was often asked, particularly in developing countries,
why he had not proposed creating more veto-bearing seats. He said most
U.N. members would like to take veto power away from the permanent five,
but neither stripping them of veto power nor creating new vetos was
realistic.
"It's utopian and one shouldn't even think about it or try," he said.
"What is important is to expand the Council to make it more representative
and more democratic so that other regions that until now have been
under-represented will also be in the Council."
Annan's comments were at least the fourth time in two days he has
promoted his reform proposals in various speeches and statements. The
changes, unveiled in March, would be the most sweeping in the history of
the United Nations, but face resistance from many U.N. member states.
Annan wants key issues like Security Council reform settled before a
world leaders gather at the United Nations in September ahead of the
annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.
Annan said he hoped the summit would be a "real decision-making one."
"What is important is I believe we have a chance in a generation to
reform this organization and the council and this year is that chance and
I hope we will take advantage and do that."
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2005-05-04 15:55
