India needs major effort to enter Security Council

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, APRIL 20. As the efforts to expand the United Nations Security Council gather an unexpected momentum, diplomatic observers here say India will have to launch an all-out offensive to gain a permanent seat at the high table.

While the prospects for India becoming a member of the world's most exclusive club are looking up, informed sources here caution that ``the road ahead is a hard one''.

They point to the debacle three years ago when India miserably lost its bid for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations. Unless it ``puts in place a coherent strategy and mounts a major lobbying effort'', observers here say, India could easily squander a rare opportunity for enhancing its global position.

India is certainly pleased with the recent French and British endorsements of its candidature for the permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council. Among the other permanent members, Russia has already backed India's claim. According to highly placed sources, the United States too had signalled a positive approach during the President, Mr. Bill Clinton's visit here last month.

The good news of Western support comes amidst signs that the current logjam at the U.N. on Security Council reform is being broken. Earlier this month, the Clinton Administration indicated it was giving up its previous insistence that an expanded Security Council should not have more than 21 nations, including both additional permanent and non-permanent members. The Council presently has 15 members, of whom five are permanent.

Lack of an agreement on the proposed size of the new Council had killed the prospects for an early expansion. The U.S. argued until now that the effectiveness of the Security Council depended on keeping it compact.

But the American proposal of 21 members was too small to accommodate the very divergent interests in the world body. Any expansion of the Security Council must be approved by two thirds of the total membership (not just present and voting) of the U.N. General Assembly.

The non-aligned movement is looking at a figure of 26 for the new Security Council. France and Britain are apparently willing to endorse a Council of 24 members. The American readiness now to go beyond 21 has opened the doors for an accelerated schedule of U.N. reform.

The reluctance of the U.S. Congress to contribute its assessed share of the U.N. spending may also be giving an impetus to early expansion of the Security Council. The U.S. hopes Germany and Japan, which it wants as permanent members in the expanded Council, would accept a large share of the UN financial burden.

Besides the question of the size of the new Council, consensus will have to be evolved on a number of difficult issues. Should the veto powers of the current permanent members be curtailed? Or must the new members too be given the right to block any decision?

Undoubtedly the expansion of the Security Council will turn out to be one the most complex diplomatic exercises in recent history. But is India really prepared for the big fight?

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