Tuesday, March 22 2005 10:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

United Nations: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday (Mar 21, 2005) said that the general sense among the UN member States is that new permanent members in an expanded Security Council should not have veto.

Talking to reporters after presenting his report on United Nations reforms to the 191-member General Assembly, Annan said existing vetoes cannot be taken away and the sense among the membership is that new ones should not be created.

But even without veto, the new permanent members would make the Council more democratic, he added.

India, which is a strong contender for a permanent seat, has already rejected the proposal to add new permanent members without a veto.

But Annan, in his report, asked member States to agree to either of the two models on expansion presented by his high-level panel - one for expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories with new permanent members having no veto power and the other advocating expansion in the non-permanent category only with creation of a new category with four-year renewable term.

The Secretary General rejected a suggestion by a Pakistani correspondent that developing countries favour expansion in only non-permanent category. "There are developing countries on the other side too," he said.

Pakistan is among the countries which oppose expansion in the permanent category.

Currently, the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China have veto and the remaining ten are elected by the General Assembly for a two-year term each and a retiring member is not eligible for re-election immediately.

Replying to a question, Annan said the suggestion that European Union (EU) have a permanent seat is "non starter," for no country is going to surrender its seat.

But he said imbalance in favour of Europeans in the permanent category would be taken care of if there is an expansion in that category. For the panel recommends addition of two members each from Asia and Africa and one from Latin America.