U.N. council to vote on Libya but China a wild card

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council plans to vote on Saturday on a draft resolution that would slap sanctions on Libya's leaders, but China's delegation was awaiting word from Beijing on its vote, diplomats said.

The draft calls for an immediate referral of Libya's violent crackdown to the International Criminal Court.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, council diplomats said China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the 15-nation body, was awaiting instructions from Beijing on how to vote. The vote is expected after the council reconvenes at 8 p.m. (1 a.m. British time Sunday).

Several envoys said it was doubtful the Chinese would veto the resolution. They said an abstention or a "yes" vote from China would be the most likely scenario.

"They're meeting in Beijing right now to discuss the situation and how to vote," a Western diplomat told Reuters.

Germany's U.N. mission announced on its Twitter page: "Consensus on draft Libya resolution building up" and that council members hare a "shared sense of urgency." The British mission tweeted the "vote will be today."

Diplomats said there was broad agreement on the council on the need to punish long-time Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and others in the North African country's ruling elite for attacks that have killed thousands of civilians.

But council members were divided over whether to immediately refer the issue to the permanent war crimes court. Diplomats said a number of council members, including China, Brazil, India and Portugal, initially had reservations about the ICC language.

All except China dropped their resistance to an immediate ICC referral, as called for in the British-French-drafted resolution, the envoys said.

'CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY'

The deadlock-breaker, envoys said, was a letter from Libya's U.N. delegation, which has denounced Gaddafi, to the president of the Security Council, Brazilian U.N. Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, confirming it backs ICC referral.

Libyan U.N. Ambassador Abdurrahman Shalgam wrote to Viotti that his mission "supports the measures proposed in the draft resolution to hold to account those responsible for the armed attacks against the Libyan civilians, including through the International Criminal Court."

The council has referred only one other case to the ICC -- the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region. The court has indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for genocide and other crimes against humanity in Darfur.

France and Britain drafted the six-page sanctions resolution, which also calls for travel bans and the freezing of assets for Gaddafi and his inner circle, in consultation with the United States and Germany.

A version of the draft circulated to council members on Friday called for an end to the violence and said "the widespread and systematic attacks currently taking place in Libya against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity.

Earlier this week, Libya's deputy U.N. ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, one of the first Libyan diplomats to denounce Gaddafi and defect, called on the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to protect rebel enclaves from forces loyal to Gaddafi. That proposal is not in the resolution.

(Editing by Vicki Allen and Todd Eastham)