By Joe Lauria
New York - The African Union is willing to give up its demand of veto power for two African permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.
The AU is set to do this if Africa is given an extra non-permanent council position, according to an African diplomat close to the negotiations in New York.
Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and nine other AU ministers met their counterparts from the Group of Four (G4) - Brazil, Japan, Germany and India - on Sunday in a bid to bridge the differences between the two side's proposals to expand the 15-member council.
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The meeting broke up without agreement, but talks among UN ambassadors are continuing this week, leading to a second foreign ministers' meeting in Geneva on July 25.
The two sticking points in the negotiations are Africa's demands for a veto as well as for the extra non-permanent seat. But there was room for compromise, said an African diplomat close to the talks.
The problem holding up a deal was that the G4 had already apportioned its 25th seat to eastern Europe and could not withdraw that to give it to Africa, the diplomat said.
Creating a 26th seat to give a non-permanent post to both eastern Europe and Africa would alienate many nations.
The G4 has already dropped its insistence on the veto to give its draft resolution a fighting chance. Oluyemi Adeniji, the foreign minister of Nigeria, who is the current AU president, has said Africa was willing to negotiate about giving up the veto.
It is not clear if the G4 is willing to amend its resolution to add the 26th seat for Africa.
Without a unified AU and G4 position, there is little chance of a two-thirds majority vote in the General Assembly to approve Security Council expansion this year.
The AU and the G4 agree that the six permanent seats should go to the G4 nations, plus two from Africa. But they still disagree on an extra non-permanent seat.
- This article was originally published on page 4 of The Star on July 19, 2005
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