West urges U.N. sanctions on Zimbabwe

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and other Western countries pushed the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to vote this week to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe but Russia, which can veto the move, said it opposed sanctions.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters after a closed-door meeting on Zimbabwe that he believed there were enough council members in favor of a U.S.-drafted sanctions resolution to pass it this week, if no country vetoes it.

The resolution would impose targeted sanctions on individuals in the government and an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.

South African Ambassador Dumisano Kumalo, whose president Thabo Mbeki is leading the mediation efforts, said council member South Africa opposed the resolution because the situation in Zimbabwe was not a "threat to international peace and security" -- the criterion for Security Council action.

"We share the frustration of everybody, but we are saying don't take measures that are going to complicate the situation and literally blow the country apart," he told reporters.

The African Union has called for talks leading to a national unity government and several African states have said sanctions could lead to civil war in the impoverished country.

Khalilzad said President Robert Mugabe had ignored previous statements by the Security Council and African mediation had not been effective so far. He said it was necessary to use a "stick" as well as a "carrot" in dealing with Zimbabwe.

"This is not an alternative to negotiation, to mediation. This is in support of ... mediation," Khalilzad said.

Khalilzad and the French and British ambassadors said a statement by the Group of Eight on Tuesday agreeing to impose sanctions showed there was global support for tough measures.

But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, one of five veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, said the G8 statement did not make any reference to the Security Council.

SOUTH AFRICA OPPOSED

"We should not discuss such matters in such haste," he told reporters, adding that some elements of the draft resolution were "quite excessive" and could infringe on the sovereignty and the internal affairs of a member state.

Asked if Russia would veto the resolution, Churkin said: "Veto is a very big word. I never use it until and unless I get specific instructions to do that."

"But certainly I urged Ambassador Khalilzad at the very least not to precipitate matters ... for a vote tomorrow, because the consequences of that would be unpredictable," he said, noting that it was not enough to have nine or 10 votes.

Diplomats said there was a spirited exchange between the resolution's backers and South Africa's Kumalo, who said Europe was trying to impose opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Zimbabwe and that the opposition were not "angels."

"The Europeans are trying to put in their guy," one diplomat quoted Kumalo as saying.

Tsvangirai won a March 29 presidential election but without an outright majority. He boycotted a run-off on June 27 in the face of violence and Mugabe was declared the winner of a poll condemned as illegitimate by much of the world.

The diplomat said Khalilzad reminded Kumalo that he had been an advocate of sanctions against South Africa's apartheid regime. "If it wasn't for sanctions and pressure on that government you might not be sitting here today," he said.

One Western diplomat said council members in favor of sanctions were the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Croatia, Panama, Costa Rica and Burkina Faso.

South Africa, Russia and Vietnam have said they oppose sanctions. Diplomats said China's ambassador, who also holds a veto, had questioned whether it was a matter for the council.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)