Security Council weighs Montenegro bid to join UN

UNITED NATIONS, June 21 (Reuters) The U N Security Council meets today to weigh newly independent Montenegro's bid to join the United Nations.

Montenegro's president, Filip Vujanovic, asked that his country become the world body's 192nd member-nation in a June 5 letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The tiny country of 650,000 people voted in a May 21 referendum to end an 88-year partnership with Serbia, with a population of 7.5 million, completing the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

Under the U N Charter, a state must win the votes of at least two-thirds of the members of the U N General Assembly, following a recommendation from the 15-nation Security Council.

In the council, membership must be backed by all five of the council's permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus at least four other nations before the recommendation can be sent on to the assembly.

Vujanovic, in a separate document submitted to Annan, declared that Montenegro accepted the obligations set out in the U N Charter and would strive to fulfill them.

Montenegro has already been recognized by Serbia, the European Union, Russia, China, the United States and most Balkan neighbors, among others.

The U N seat previously assigned to Serbia and Montenegro is now in Serbia's hands. The two countries had been together in one form or another since 1918.

The ''state union'' they formed in 2003 replaced what was left of Yugoslavia, linking them in a loose relationship in which they shared foreign affairs and defense but had their own currencies, laws and customs regulations.

REUTERS PDS BST0605