The vote, expected to pass easily, was originally scheduled for Friday and was postponed until Monday "at the request of (South African) President Thabo Mbeki," South African ambassador to the UN Dumisani Kumalo told AFP.

Mbeki, the African Union's mediator in the ongoing Ivory Coast conflict, requested the delay to allow the AU to discuss the conflict during its summit in Abuja on January 30-31, said Kumalo.

The AU will hear a report from Mbeki on his discussions with feuding Ivory Coast factions earlier this week, which were aimed at reopening stalled peace talks between the groups.

In addition, the AU expects to receive a report dealing with the Ivorian crisis from Gabon President Omar Bongo, who presided over the AU Peace and Security Council's summit in early January in Libreville.

France, which proposed the Security Council resolution on the embargo, accepted the vote's postponement so the AU summit could discuss the conflict, said a French diplomat.

"We consider it normal to defer to their proposal to have the vote after the summit," he said.

The resolution would tighten the embargo imposed November 15 on weapons headed to Ivory Coast.

It grants UN and French peacekeeping forces the power to inspect without notice any air and land cargo passing through Ivorian ports, airports, military bases and border crossings.

The French diplomat said that, in the present version, there is no reason to alter the resolution's text.

"Today, there is a unanimity among the Security Council members to adopt this text," he said.