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UNITED NATIONS-After a decade and a half of backroom argument, the world's nations launched full negotiations on Thursday to expand the powerful 15-nation U.N. Security Council to reflect present-day realities.Diplomats said the negotiations among the 192 U.N. member states were likely to stretch at least into next year and might not come up with a definitive solution even then.The council, authorized by the U.N. charter to impose sanctions and dispatch peacekeeping forces, currently has five permanent veto-holding members-the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China.It also has 10 members with no veto power who are elected on a regional basis for two-year terms before being replaced by others. The number was set in 1965, after standing at six since the United Nations was founded after World War Two. Developing countries have long resented the clout of the veto-holders on the council, whose composition stems from the post-war balance of power. Most nations agree the body needs to be enlarged, but there is no consensus on how.The negotiations, chaired by Afghan Ambassador Zahir Tanin, got off to a low-key start with a closed meeting at which member state ambassadors discussed procedural issues. Substantive negotiations will begin in March, officials said.A world summit in 2005 said reform of the Security Council would make it "more broadly representative, efficient and transparent and thus...further enhance its effectiveness and the legitimacy and implementation of its decisions."But regional rivalries and a concern by the big powers that their preeminence should not be diluted are likely to drag out the talks on key details of how to achieve that goal.Numerous plans have been put forward in the past, differing over how many new seats should be added, who should have them, whether they should be permanent, semipermanent or time-limited and which, if any, new states should get the veto.By Patrick Worsnip
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