A US attempt to end nearly 13 years of UN sanctions on Iraq is poised to pass through the Security Council today after France, Germany and Russia said they would support the latest draft of the plan.
The council scheduled a vote on the US draft resolution at 9.30 a.m. (2.30 p.m. Irish time) today and diplomats said Washington and co-sponsors Britain and Spain hoped for the support of as many as 14 and perhaps all 15 council members.
UN sanctions were imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The resolution would lift all sanctions except an arms embargo and also end the strict UN controls on the Iraqi economy imposed as part of the oil-for-food humanitarian program, which would be phased out over six months.
It would give occupiers the United States and Britain broad powers to run the nation and sell its oil until a new government is set up.
"Even if this text does not go as far as we would like we have decided to vote for this resolution," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told a joint news conference in Paris with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov.
But Syrian UN envoy Mr Fayssal Mekdad told reporters Damascus had not been given enough time to make up its mind and might sit out the vote.
Yesterday's draft marked the third set of revisions since the initial version of a text was released last week as the United States struggles to stabilise Iraq after the war to oust Saddam Hussein.
Washington had initially hoped for a vote yesterday but delayed after council members suggested dozens more changes in the 12-page draft during a lengthy debate late on Tuesday.
Concerned at the lack of a deadline for installing a new Iraqi government, France had wanted the resolution to lapse after a year, at which time the council could review its implementation and decide whether to renew it.
Washington opposed this but agreed instead to a compromise providing for a council review within 12 months, at which time it could take any further steps it deemed necessary.