UN: Chinese, Russian and Algerian diplomats in the United Nations have strongly opposed a US-backed draft resolution threatening sanctions against Syria if it fails to provide extensive co-operation to UN investigators looking into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
The US, France and Britain introduced a tough resolution on Tuesday that would immediately ban travel and freeze assets of Syrian officials suspected by UN investigators of participating in the Valentine's Day truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.
The report threatens to impose economic sanctions on Syria if it fails to grant the UN team the right to go anywhere, see any document, or interview any individual in Syria, including President Bashar Assad.
US State Department officials said on Wednesday that they had received indications from at least 10 Security Council members, including China and Russia, that they would attend a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday to vote on the resolution.
They expressed confidence that Beijing and Moscow, who wield veto power, would not block the resolution.
The resolution would grant the UN prosecutor, Detlev Mehlis of Germany, extraordinary powers to demand co-operation from Syrian authorities, including the right to order the arrest of Syrian officials. Critics of the American-backed approach say that while Syria must co-operate with Mr Mehlis's team, the resolution is an excessive intrusion into Syria's internal affairs.
China's UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, said it would be difficult to accept the resolution as it stood now. "It's too tough. I think the sanctions will be a difficult problem for us," he said.
A spokesman for Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia would be doing everything necessary to prevent attempts to impose sanctions against Syria, according to Russian news agencies.
But Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Andrey Denisov, hinted it was unlikely that Moscow would cast its veto.
The spectre of Iraq loomed over the negotiations as diplomats expressed suspicions that the US and its European partners were trying to subject Syria to the same pressure it applied to the former Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein after he invaded Kuwait in 1990.
"We don't want to make Mehlis another Butler," Mr Wang said, referring to Richard Butler of Australia, the combative former chief UN inspector. Despite the misgivings, John Bolton, US ambassador to the United Nations, was upbeat about prospects for the resolution's adoption. "I must say, the early signs are encouraging," Mr Bolton told reporters.
He would try to address concerns of the resolution's critics, Mr Bolton said, but "what we're not going to accept is any watering down of the unambiguous message to Syria that it must co-operate. We're not looking for consensus at any price. We want the strongest possible resolution with the broadest possible support."