20100601
Reuters
France will push for Africa to have membership of the G20 economies in a similar capacity to the European Union when it takes helm of the group next year, a French political source said.

France is using the 25th Africa-France summit, which ends in Nice on Tuesday, to pave the way for reform proposals at next year's G8/G20 meetings, aimed at giving Africa more of a say on the international stage.

"They (African leaders) are quite enthusiastic that we want to make the African Union a permanent member of the G20 like the presidency of the European Commission," the source said late on Monday.

South Africa is the only African state represented on the group of the world's richest economies.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday it was time for the world to make a place for Africa on the global stage to discuss international crises and reform, calling for the United Nations to be reformed and Africa to have a permanent member of the Security Council.

The source said the African leaders had agreed to discuss proposals for an interim reform on the Security Council at the next African Union summit.

African nations have been asking for two rotating permanent seats since 2005, given the continent has about 27 percent of members at the United Nations, its size and the involvement of global powers on its territory.

The source said France had suggested a compromise, whereby there would now be three categories of membership on the Security Council: permanent members, members elected in the current system and a third option of members elected for five or six years.

China, the United States, Russia, Britain and France are the permanent members of the Council. OPEC member Nigeria, Gabon and Uganda are among 10 members that hold rotating seats.

"They have accepted to discuss that at the next African Union summit in Kampala in a month ... we think it (the issue) has really made a lot of progress," the source said.