UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18: The United States and Britain are expected to field a draft resolution on Iraq in the UN Security Council on Wednesday evening following two days of debate in the council on Iraq, diplomats here said.

The debate was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, to allow countries that are not members of the Security Council to give their views.

This was done at the request of South Africa which heads the Non-Aligned Movement of 115 mainly developing nations most of whom are opposed to war against Iraq.

More than 40 countries have signed up to speak, and the session is not expected to conclude on Wednesday afternoon, when Washington and London are likely to circulate their proposed resolution.

The US ambassador John Negroponte and his British counterpart, Jeremy Greenstock, met on Monday afternoon to discuss the content and timing of a second resolution.

Diplomats say that the United States and Britain face an uphill task following last Friday’s modestly upbeat reports from the UN weapons inspectors and calls from the overwhelming majority of council members, led by France, for inspections to continue.

The weekend anti-war demonstrations promise to make the debate and the opposition to a war to disarm Saddam Hussein more contentious.

On Monday French President Jacques Chirac reiterated that his country would oppose any effort to draft a new UN resolution to explicitly authorize war against Iraq at this time.

“There is no need for a second resolution today, which France would have no choice but to oppose,” Mr Chirac said.

France, Russia and China, all permanent members of the council, are all opposed to war now, and could veto any resolution.

Diplomats here believe that the final text will place Iraq in material breach of its obligations and reiterate that President Saddam now faces serious consequences, but is not likely to make an explicit call to authorize use of force.

The other options include issuing Saddam an ultimatum to relinquish power or meet a set of conditions within a tight deadline, council diplomats here said.