South Africa's UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said that the sanctions will "create more complications" for the settlement of the Zimbabwe issue at a time when the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are spearheading a mediation effort.

"Sanctions are not the right thing in Zimbabwe," Kumalo said. " There is a lot of room for political negotiation we must engage so that we can resolve this thing in a political manner."

Vietnam's UN Ambassador Le Luong Minh, the council president for July, also voiced opposition to sanctions, saying that they would not be "useful and proactive" to bringing about solutions.

"We call upon parties concerned to engage in dialogue and negotiations to find a solution to the political impasse in Zimbabwe," instead of resorting to sanctions, Le said.

Le said that some council members are calling for more time to discuss the U.S. draft.

So far, the United State and its European allies have yet to ask the council to schedule a vote on the text, which Khalilzad said has remained virtually intact from its original version except for minor changes.

The Western powers have pushed the council to adopt unanimous but nonbinding statements condemning actions of violence and intimidation before the presidential election in Zimbabwe.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2008)