UNGA head to speed up Security Council reforms

United Nations: General Assembly President Tijani Muhammad-Bande has said that he would use every tool that is available to narrow the gaps in the negotiations for Security Council reform to speed up the decades-long process.
Asked at his news conference on Tuesday about the failure of the reform process to make headway, he said: “Yes, it is very slow but our commitment is to see that we use whatever tools are available through the IGN (intergovernmental negotiations for reform) to narrow the gap so we come to a point where we can say there is light at the end of the long tunnel that there will be fair, and effective reform of the Council and that is where we are at.” He blamed the slowness of the reform negotiations on the inability to reach a consensus.
He said, “The process has not been fast because we want to make sure there have been consensus. That consensus has not been forthcoming.” He listed three areas of differences. “There are major gaps in understanding what the correct number should be in terms of total number of members of the Council to make it effective (and) still representative. And the debate concerning what to do with veto, should it continue and if it continues in what form,” he said.
“The question of what other regions should have more representation is also part of it,” he added.