FMs fail to reach accord on U.N. council

UNITED NATIONS, July 17 (UPI) -- Foreign ministers of the "G4" countries have failed to find common ground after a meeting with African Union representatives on U.N. Security Council reform.

Group of Four foreign ministers Celso Amorim of Brazil, Joschka Fischer of Germany, K. Natwar Singh of India and Nabutaka Machimura of Japan met Sunday with the AU delegation -- which included foreign ministers Oluyemi Adeniji of Nigeria and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa at the Indian Mission to the United Nations in New York.

They agreed to meet again in Geneva July 25, but left negotiations up to their representatives assigned to U.N. World Headquarters, who were to report to the ministers.

While Fischer told reporters the discussions were "frank," Amorim said, "Our differences are much smaller than our similarities."

Earlier the G4 met with President Jean Ping of the U.N. General Assembly in his office, then paid a brief call on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at his East Side residence, where he was recovering from shoulder surgery performed Friday.

Debate on the AU resolution begins Monday.