Stronger voice sought in the UN Security Council

African nations agreed on Tuesday to press for two veto-wielding permanent seats on the UN Security Council to ensure a greater voice with regard to global issues. Foreign ministers at the African Union (AU) also voted to press for five non-permanent seats on the 15-strong powerful body, as part of planned reforms by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "The reform is now or never," AU's commission chairman, Alpha Oumar Konare, said in Addis Ababa. The Council currently has five veto-holding permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. Proposals have been made to expand the body. Under one proposal, new permanent members would join the five-veto-wielding countries, while the other would allow for more nations with four-year, non-permanent, but renewable seats. Konare told African ministers that having a "voice" on the Council would ensure genuine representation of the continent. "This position should reflect the African vision of the future of the continent, and the place of Africa in the world," he added. Germany, Japan, India and Brazil have launched a joint drive for permanent seats, along with the African nations. Among the African countries that have expressed an interest are South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt, according to AU officials. AU spokesman, Desmond Orjiako, said that Africa had no opportunity to influence the UN when it was first established after WWII. "This offers a great opportunity to be heard within the UN system," he said. The AU, according to Orjiako, would take the question of which African countries should be represented on the UN body. Konare also called for the 53 members of the AU to provide more peacekeepers to tackle crises on the continent. Speaking to journalists, Konare - the former president of Mali - said that African nations must offer more troops to cope with Darfur, Cote D'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He also called for more humanitarian aid for Darfur, where some 70,000 people have died and more than 1.8 million have fled their homes. "This is the right time to intervene, because tomorrow it would be too late," he said. "We need a bigger humanitarian commitment. Everyone is expecting a very difficult situation in Darfur, mostly on the humanitarian dimension. Konare said the AU was re-assessing its troop numbers in Darfur, where around 3,000 peacekeepers are on the ground, and looking into sending troops to Cote D'Ivoire and DRC. "My demand for troops deals also with other fields - like Ivory Coast - to help start a good cantonment and in the DRC/Rwanda, we need more troops to help us solve the problem of the Interahamwe," he said, urging the international community to provide logistical support. "Of course many African countries would like to assist us, but you have many logistical problems that have to be addressed by our partners," he added. His comments came after 24 non-African nations, including the UK and China, were accredited to the AU, the first time in the pan-African body's history.