The UN Security Council will meet Saturday with the possibility of adopting sanctions aimed at stopping bloodshed in Libya, the council president said Friday, dpa reported.
Brazil's UN Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, president of the 15-nation council, said council members have agreed to consider "urgently specific targeted measures aimed at putting an end to violence, helping achieve a peaceful solution to the current crisis and respecting the will of the Libyan people."
French Ambassador Gerard Araud said specifically that council members decided during closed-door discussions to adopt a resolution on Saturday to impose an arms embargo and travel ban and freeze assets of the Gaddafi regime.
Araud said the issue of referring crimes against humanity and human rights violations to the International Criminal Court was more difficult for some council members to endorse.
"But there is no reason why we should not proceed with the sanctions," Araud said, apparently suggesting that the issue of the ICC may be set aside for the moment. He said Russia has given support to the sanctions but said nothing about China.
Araud said a draft resolution has been circulated among the 15 council members and most likely it would be adopted Saturday.
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