Lebanon, Bosnia among five new UN council members

Politically divided Lebanon and Bosnia were among five countries elected to the UN Security Council on Thursday, in a move diplomats hoped would help strengthen their fragile institutions.

In an uncontested election, the UN General Assembly voted for Bosnia, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria to serve on the council in 2010 and 2011. All five had been selected in advance by their regional groups.

From January 1, 2010 they will replace Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Libya and Vietnam as non-veto-holding members of the 15-nation body, the powerhouse of the UN with the authority to impose sanctions and send peacekeeping forces.

Unresolved political and security issues have meant that both Lebanon and Bosnia are subject to Security Council scrutiny. Lebanon has about 12,500 UN peacekeeping troops in its south, stemming from past conflicts with Israel, while Bosnia, torn by war in the 1990s, has a European Union force.

"The experience of being on the council will help strengthen their national government systems to enable them to take decisions on international issues," British ambassador John Sawers, whose country holds a permanent council seat, said of Lebanon and Bosnia.

There are five veto-holding permanent members of the Security Council — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — and 10 temporary elected members without vetoes.

But the elected members have some power because a council resolution needs nine votes in favour as well as no vetoes.

The only way the five countries elected on Thursday could have been blocked would have been if they had failed to obtain a two-thirds majority of the votes. All five were elected with overwhelming majorities.