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UN Council ministers brace for Syria sanctions vote

Posted on: Sunday, 30 October 2005, 15:00 CST

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."

Source: REUTERS

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