The United Nations Security Council is to vote on resolution imposing sanctions against the Libyan government at 4:00 Moscow time (1:00 GMT) on Sunday, a Security Council source said.
"The vote is expected at 20:00 [Saturday, local time]," the source said.
The Council agreed to urgently consider a draft resolution, which introduces "targeted measures" against the current Libyan leadership. Sanctions, designed to end violence in the African state, will include a total arms embargo, freeze of certain accounts and travel bans.
According to various estimates, from 1,000 to 2,000 people have been killed since protests against the country's longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi began on February 15.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council on Friday to promptly consider steps against Gaddafi's government for the violent clampdown on protesters, with options ranging from sanctions to assured punishment. The UN head earlier had a phone conversation with Gaddafi in an attempt to end violence.
The European Union leadership is also discussing measures against Gaddafi and his government, while U.S. President Barack Obama has signed an executive order on travel restrictions for some of Gaddafi supporters and had not ruled out military action, according to media reports.
Gaddafi, who has ruled the country for about 42 years, is reluctant to yield power and some fear clashes between his supporters and opponents may end in a full-scale civil war.
Gen Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi, Libya's former interior minister who joined the protestors, was quoted as saying by BBC that Gaddafi will fight to the death, rather than step down.
"Either he will commit suicide or he will resist till he falls," he said, adding that the regime will only last into the coming week.
Libyan authorities are eager to persuade the foreign media that the Libyan unrest was "just a big joke."
"Here, in Libya, we are laughing," Gaddafi's second son Saif al-Islam told foreign journalists who were flown to Tripoli. "Apart from Misrata and Zawiya, everything is calm ... Negotiations are going on and we are optimistic. Peace is coming back to our country."
He was more pessimistic while giving an interview to the Al Arabiya channel.
"What the Libyan nation is going through has opened the door to all options, and now the signs of civil war and foreign interference have started," he said.
He denied reports that foreign mercenaries were hired to crush protests and joined his father in blaming the unrest on Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, who are seeking to turn Libya into a state resembling Afghanistan or Somalia.
Saif al-Islam also called on protestors to start dialog with the government, saying the unrest "has no future."
He said three quarters of the country are under the government control and are "living in peace." Other media say pro-Gaddafi forces control only certain districts in the capital, Tripoli.
Meanwhile, former justice minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud Ajleil has already begun forming an interim government in Libya's second largest city of Benghazi, which is currently under the control of protestors, the Quryna newspaper said.
"Abud Ajleil insisted on the unity of the homeland's territory, and that Libya is free and its capital is Tripoli," the newspaper said.
NEW YORK, February 27 (RIA Novosti)
