Foreign ministers from the so-called Group of Four (G4) failed on Monday to win support from the African Union (AU) for their own UN Security Council expansion plan at a meeting in London.  

Ministers from the G4 said that they would work with the AU to formulate a joint proposal for UN Security Council expansion.

The G4 -- Brazil, Germany, Japan and India, which are contenders for new permanent seats on the Security Council -- met in London with AU ministers from Nigeria, Ghana, Libya, Egypt and Algeria, among others.

"We have both come to the conclusion that unless we work together in producing one draft resolution, the reform of the United Nations will not go forward," Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji told reporters after the day-long meeting.

"The agreement is that we will work toward coming out with a joint draft resolution ultimately," he said, adding that "We have some common understanding of the elements of the joint proposal."

The ministers only gave vague details of the new plan and said they would all consult with their governments in the coming weeks.

On July 17, the G4 and AU met in New York but failed to reach a compromise on Security Council expansion.

The G4, which has aspired to be new permanent members on the expanded council, has hoped to merge its proposal on the council expansion with that of the AU.

The G4 resolution calls for an increase of six permanent members, whose veto power would be frozen for 15 years, and four non-permanent members in the Security Council.

The AU proposes adding six permanent members, with the veto power, and five non-permanent members to the council.

The council is currently composed of five veto-wielding permanent members and 10 rotating elected members with two-year terms.

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2005)