EU to impose Libya sanctions next week: diplomats

European Union governments reached consensus on Friday on imposing an arms embargo, asset freezes and a travel ban on Libya, but a formal decision will only be taken early next week, diplomats said, as the U.N. Human Rights Council unanimously called for Libya to be suspended from the body.

After a meeting of ambassadors from the 27 member states, no objections were raised to the idea of imposing sanctions on Muammar Gaddafi and his crumbling government, but the legal language and other details have still to be finalized.

"We expect a formal decision to be made early next week, possibly Monday or Tuesday," one EU diplomat said.

Another diplomat said the aim was to coordinate the move with the United States and the United Nations, where pressure is mounting for sanctions to be imposed via the Security Council.

Raising concerns

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton is expected to discuss coordinating the EU, U.S. and U.N. action when she meets U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Geneva on Monday.

Some member states, including Cyprus, Malta and Italy, which have close ties to Libya, had raised concerns about moving too quickly to impose sanctions, especially as it is unclear whether Gaddafi will still be in power in the coming weeks.

One particular concern is that about 3,000 EU citizens, many of them oil and construction workers, remain in Libya and have yet to be evacuated.

France and Germany are pushing to move more rapidly against the Libyan leader, putting further pressure on him to yield after more than 40 years in power and throwing diplomatic weight behind the growing popular insurgency.

Once member states take a formal decision on sanctions, the European Commission has to adopt the necessary regulations for the EU to go ahead, diplomats said. That will come after a Commission meeting next week.

Britain and France plan to present a draft proposal for sanctions against Libyan leaders at the U.N. Security Council on Friday. A vote is expected early next week.

Russia and China, two veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, have so far not objected to considering sanctions on Libya, although they are expected to try to dilute any proposed steps, diplomats have said.

UN Human Rights Council

The U.N. Human Rights Council, meanwhile, unanimously called for Libya to be suspended from the body and for a probe into violations by the regime, in a dramatic session which witnessed the defection of Tripoli's envoy.

In a resolution adopted by consensus, the 47 member U.N. body decided to "urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry... to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in Libya."

It also "recommends to the United Nations General Assembly, in view of the gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Libyan authorities," to consider suspending the country from the Human Rights Council.

Libya was elected in May 2010 to the council after obtaining 155 votes in a secret ballot from the 192-state General Assembly.

However, Muammar Gaddafi's regime's move to dispatch its army and air force to fire on civilians prompted the council's special session in condemnation of what it believed could "also amount to crimes against humanity."

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, earlier warned the council that thousands may have been killed or injured in the violence in Libya.

"In brazen and continuing breach of international law, the crackdown in Libya of peaceful demonstrations is escalating alarmingly with reported mass killings, arbitrary arrests, detention and torture of protestors," she said.

"According to some sources, thousands may have been killed or injured," she told envoys packed into the council chamber.

Members of the Human Rights Council are elected by the U.N. General Assembly for three years and are required to "uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights" under its rules.

The country could be suspended from the council if two-thirds of U.N. member states meeting in the General Assembly in New York were to approve the move.