UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council is expected this week to approve an international inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri after ensuring the probe does not threaten Beirut's sovereignty, diplomats said on Monday.

In a closed-door meeting on Monday, several of the council's 15 members pushed for changes in a U.S.-French draft resolution authorizing the investigation, to ensure that Lebanese sovereignty is protected and that investigators coordinate their work with the government, the diplomats said.

A U.N. fact-finding mission recommended the independent inquiry after concluding that Lebanon's own probe into Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination in a Beirut bombing suffered from "serious flaws" and could not reach a credible conclusion.

The mission also blamed Syrian military intelligence "for a lack of security, protection and law and order" in Lebanon at the time of Hariri's death.

Damascus promised U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen on Sunday that it would end its military and intelligence presence in Lebanon by April 30 in line with an earlier Security Council resolution adopted in September.

But while there was broad council agreement that an outside investigation into the killing was needed, "this committee is to assist the Lebanese government, not replace the Lebanese government," said Chinese U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, the council president for April. "Lebanon is not a failed state."

"We cannot vote for such a resolution as written," said Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali.

Clipping investigators wings

The draft resolution would order U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to set up "an international independent investigation commission" to look into Hariri's death.

But it also says the commission's purpose would be "to assist the Lebanese authorities" in their own inquiry.

While Paris and Washington suggested a six-month life for the commission, five council members -- Algeria, Brazil, Greece, the Philippines and Russia -- are pushing for just a three-month mandate, diplomats said.

Lebanon has also proposed numerous changes in the draft, including several that would appear to limit investigators' powers, even though Lebanon and Syria have both informed Annan of their support for an outside investigation.

So far, however, Paris and Washington have rejected most of those suggestions.

For example, while Lebanon suggested requiring the commission to "discharge its duties in cooperation with the Lebanese authorities," the U.S.-French draft would call for "full cooperation" by the Lebanese authorities.

Beirut also failed to persuade France and the United States to delete language empowering the panel to collect any evidence, interview any official and visit any site that it "deems relevant to the inquiry."

And the draft would require "full" access to evidence gathered by the Lebanese authorities and the right to interview "all" officials, despite Beirut's recommendation that the words "full" and "all" be deleted. (Reuters)