Four nations submit plan to enlarge UN Council

Germany, Japan, Brazil and India submitted a U.N. General Assembly resolution on Wednesday to enlarge the 15-seat Security Council by 10 members in hopes of a vote next week, Japan announced.

The four aspirants for permanent council seats, known as the Group of Four or G-4, want a vote on a framework resolution that would call for six new permanent council seats, without a veto, and four new rotating nonpermanent seats.

The Japanese mission to the United Nations said the draft resolution must be translated into U.N. official languages before it is distributed to the 191 General Assembly members.

A G-4 envoy, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that this week's Africa Union summit in Sirte, Libya, had confused his strategy because the AU decided to produce its own resolution and "at the same time say they are willing to negotiate."

The four aspirants are expected to negotiate with the African Union at the Group of Eight summit of industrial nations in Gleneagles, Scotland, this week.

But without Africa's 53 votes, the G-4 draft resolution will not reach the 128 or two-thirds vote required among the 191 U.N. General Assembly members.