France asks U.N. council to sanction Ivory Coast's Gbagbo

French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters the 15-nation council was expected to discuss the draft resolution in detail next week. It was not immediately clear when the text could be put to a vote.

Speaking after a closed-door council meeting on Ivory Coast, Araud said the world was facing "a humanitarian tragedy" in Ivory Coast where clashes are intensifying between forces loyal to incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo and those of his rival Alassane Ouattara.

The United Nations and African organizations say challenger Ouattara defeated Gbagbo in presidential elections last November but Gbagbo says he won and has refused to quit.

Araud said the draft resolution repeated calls for Gbagbo to step down, forbids heavy weapons in the Abidjan area, provides for sanctions against Gbagbo and his close advisers, and calls for the International Criminal Court and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to take up the case of Ivory Coast.

Diplomats said the draft calls for the 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast to adopt tougher measures to protect civilians but would not change its mandate.

Araud said he believed there was a majority in the Security Council in favour of calling on Gbagbo to go. It is not clear whether all members of the council will support all the other measures in the French-Nigerian draft.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Eric Beech)