UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States has prepared a draft text on U.N. sanctions against Zimbabwe that would ban arms sales and freeze assets of specific individuals and firms after last week's widely condemned election.
But council diplomats said it will be difficult to persuade South Africa, Russia, China and other U.N. Security Council members to accept a sanctions resolution against Zimbabwe.
The seven-page text, titled "Draft Elements for a Chapter VII Sanctions Resolution" and obtained in full by Reuters on Monday, says the council would not recognize Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's June 27 re-election and would impose an embargo on sales of arms or military hardware to Harare.
It asks the council to freeze the assets of and ban travel for anyone who helped the government "undermine democratic processes" or supported politically motivated violence.
The legally binding resolution would have the council "expressing deep concern at the gross irregularities during the June 27 run-off presidential election (and) the violence and intimidation perpetrated in the run-up to the election that made impossible the holding of free and fair elections."
It also has the 15-nation council "condemning the continued beating, violence and torture of civilians, sexual violence, and the displacement of thousands of Zimbabweans, many of whom have been driven to take refuge in neighbouring countries."
The draft text condemns the "intimidation and violence directed against supporters of the opposition political party, as well as the detention of its leaders." It also demands that the government cooperate with "non-partisan investigations of the political violence" between March and June 2008.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters he would probably circulate the draft to the full council this week.
South Africa opposed to idea of sanctions
The Security Council is deeply divided on the issue of Zimbabwe and council diplomats say that South Africa, which opposes the idea of sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government, has the backing of two powerful veto-wielding council members -- Russia and China.
Elected Security Council members Indonesia and Vietnam, which usually prefer to avoid intervening in what they see as other countries' internal affairs, also appear to be supporting the South Africans, diplomats say.
Khalilzad said the "credibility of the council is at stake" because of its statement a week ago that condemned the violence and restrictions on the opposition because they made a free and fair election impossible.
"We spoke loudly and clearly, made demands that were ignored," he told reporters. "If we do nothing, if there is no response, what does that say about the council?"
Mugabe went to an African Union summit in Egypt on Monday after being re-elected in a one-candidate election that was condemned by regional monitors and many world leaders.
Envoys from Indonesia and Russia said they wanted the council to wait and see what the AU summit produced on Zimbabwe before considering any action the council could take. China's envoy told reporters Zimbabwe was an "African problem."
Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers acknowledged it was not clear if the Western members of the Security Council would be able to persuade the full council to adopt a sanctions resolution, but said they would try.
"I hope that there will be a climate whereby sanctions can be adopted by the United Nations as well," he said. "That's what we'll be working for."
The council will also be looking to see what comes out of the AU summit, Sawers said, adding that Britain would lobby the European Union to tighten its own sanctions against Zimbabwe.
