Senegal joined four other African nations on Friday vying for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, if the existing 15-member council is expanded. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last month the expansion of the council, which has five permanent members and makes binding decisions on war, sanctions and peacekeeping, was vital before a summit of world leaders in September. No decision has yet been taken on how the council should be reformed but under one plan, African nations would get two permanent seats. So far Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are in the frame. "Senegal has decided to demonstrate its interest in being a candidate for one of the two permanent seats on the Security Council ... which should be attributed to Africa," Senegal's Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio said. "We won't go to the Security Council to represent Senegal but we will go to defend African Union proposals," he told a news conference in the capital Dakar, referring to the 53-member African body based in Ethiopia. --SP 0058 Local Time 2158 GMT
