The African Union has unanimously adopted a resolution that the continent should be granted two permanent seats with veto rights and five non-permanent seats in a reformed United Nations Security Council.
The African leaders would like to concentrate their energies on getting the seats first before consulting on who gets those seats, South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini- Zima was quoted by the South African Government's official mouthpiece, Buanews, as saying.
Dlamini-Zima accompanied President Thabo Mbeki at the African Union heads of state summit held in Sirte, Libya.
South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt are among some of the African countries vying for the two seats.
The issue of Africa getting seats with privileges was a matter of principle since all permanent members on the UNSC had veto powers, Dlamini-Zuma said.
"If it exists for others then it should also exist for us," she said.
Dlamini-Zuma said the African leaders resolved to enlarge the Security Council by increasing its "membership from 15 to 26 with the 11 additional seats" distributed to different continents.
The proposal calls for two seats each for Africa and Asia, one for Latin American and Caribbean states and one for Western European and other states.
Immediately after the adoption of the resolution, Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo left for Gleneagles in Scotland to attend the meeting of the G8 leaders. The two African presidents are some of the leaders from the developing countries that the G8 invited to the summit.