UN Council ministers brace for Syria sanctions vote

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – UN Security Council members
prepared to vote on Monday on a resolution threatening economic
sanctions against Syria if it does not cooperate fully with a
UN probe into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister
Rafik Hariri.

The United States, France and Britain, co-sponsors of the
measure, are aiming for unanimous approval. Russia and China
have objected to sanctions, but diplomats do not expect them to
use their veto power at a meeting of the 15-member council.

Both countries, along with Algeria, the only Arab country
on the council, could abstain in the vote which requires a
minimum of nine nations in favor and no veto.

At least 11 foreign ministers are expected to be on hand
for the meeting, an indication of the importance of the
resolution.

The draft resolution requires Syria to detain anyone for
questioning that UN investigators consider a suspect. If
Damascus does not cooperate, the council intends to consider
further measures such as economic sanctions to ensure
compliance, the text says.

The measure also calls for a travel ban and a freeze on
overseas assets of those suspected of the killing, but it sets
up a procedure whereby Security Council members can object to
any name submitted.

Syria, responding to a proposal by German prosecutor Detlev
Mehlis, who heads the UN investigation until December 15, said
over the weekend it was conducting its own probe.

Mehlis has said the plot to kill Hariri and 22 others in
Beirut on February 14 was “organized by Syrian and Lebanese
security officials.” His report named President Bashar
al-Assad’s brother and brother-in-law as possible suspects.
Syria has vigorously denied the allegations.

Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Walid al-Mualem, was
touring Arab nations in the Gulf on Sunday, in an apparent
effort to have them lobby Security Council members.

His foreign minister, Farouq al-Shara, is traveling to New
York to speak at the meeting. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov plans to discuss the measure at dinner on Sunday with
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Both the United States and France, who drew up the
resolution, are confident it will be adopted. “We are very
close. We are close to resolving it,” U.S. Ambassador John
Bolton told reporters on Friday.

However, Algeria’s UN ambassador, Abdallah Baali,
representing the 22-nation Arab bloc, said, “It is premature
and unjustified to talk about sanctions when the investigation
is still going on.”