Egypt Seeks Permanent U.N. Council Seat

[Rose Siding]

CAIRO, Egypt -- Egypt's regional and international clout qualify it for a permanent seat on an expanded U.N. Security Council, Egypt's foreign minister said Saturday.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit said it would be difficult to make progress on the issue of expanding the U.N.'s most powerful body, an issue on the U.N. agenda for more than a decade, without better representation of all cultures. He was Egypt's U.N. ambassador until becoming foreign minister in July.

"Egypt's regional and international contributions -- in African, Arab, Islamic circles, in the Middle East and among developing countries and blooming economies ... qualifies her to bear the responsibility of new membership in the expanded security council," he told participants in a conference on regional security.

Aboul Gheit, who was quoted by Egypt's semiofficial Middle East News Agency, said it would be difficult to achieve real progress on the issue of reforming and expanding the Security Council without a comprehensive view that realizes "the importance of representing all civilizations and cultures ... and that the expansion can't be limited to certain societies and not others."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-egypt-un,0,4211957.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[expatriot]

1. Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil should all get in before Egypt

[Rose Siding]

2. Yes, but suppose they base the US support of a ME nation

-in return for a seat on the security council. I don't suppose those other countries have anything the Bushies want quite so much.

[Quetzal]

3. Exactly

Brazil should be the next country on the Security Council.