But many council members expressed optimism after the meeting that the council could soon adopt the resolution, which would give UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan the authority to run the humanitarian oil-for-food program for 45 days.

"It (the meeting) ended better than it started ... there was light at the end of the tunnel and I think now the tunnel is short," French Ambassador to the United Nations Jean-Marc de La Sablieretold reporters.

"There were some proposals made by the UK (United Kingdom) and I think these proposals meet the concerns of many delegations," he said, but failing to specify the proposals.

All delegations agreed that there is "an urgent need to move fast," he said, adding: "I am quite optimistic now."

British Ambassador to the UN Jeremy Greenstock said the council talked about giving Annan the authority to "make an immediate difference" to the oil-for-food program.

"We made some progress today," he said, adding that the Germany-chaired expert group will meet again this afternoon on the precise wording of the draft text.

The upbeat tone of the two envoys was shared by German UN Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, who heads the council's sanctions committee overseeing the implementation of the oil-for-food program.

"I am very optimistic that we might be able to produce a new text by tonight and then go to capitals for approval in the near future," he said.

Germany has made an appeal to all council members to work out the terms quickly "because of the size of the humanitarian catastrophe we might be faced with," Pleuger noted.

"Eighty percent of food basket in Iraq depend on the oil-for-food," he stressed.

"The problem we have to cope with now is how do we rearrange and make necessary adaptations to the oil-for-food program for the next 45 days, what kind of authorization should be given to the secretary-general and how can we do this in the context of international law, especially the international humanitarian law, "he said.

But he declined to disclose the differences on the draft resolution among the council members.

Some council members have expressed fears that with the existing Iraqi government still in office, the adoption of such a resolution could give legality to the US-led invasion which was launched without prior UN authorization.

The oil-for-food program, which has been in place since December 1996, was suspended last week after Annan ordered all international staff out of Iraq ahead of the ongoing conflict.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2003)