UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Monday imposed an immediate arms embargo on Ivory Coast and vowed to punish key government and rebel leaders with more sanctions next month to pressure the two sides to return to the terms of a 2003 peace agreement.

The 15-nation council unanimously adopted a sanctions resolution drafted by France, the former colonial power, after the government launched bombing raids on the rebel-held north a little over a week ago, shattering an 18-month truce and killing nine French peacekeepers and a U.S. civilian.

The council had delayed a vote last week to give African Union officials a chance to patch up the peace process between the government forces holding the south and the rebels controlling the north of the world's largest cocoa producer.

But no deal has been reached and West African leaders meeting in Nigeria on Sunday backed a quick ban on arms sales after President Laurent Gbagbo vowed to buy new military aircraft to replace those recently destroyed by France.

"Do you think I am going to leave my country with no air defense?" Gbagbo said in an interview on French radio.

Ivory Coast Ambassador Philippe Djangone-Bi accused Paris of becoming "a party to the conflict" in siding with the rebels in drafting the council text.

"It is well known, one cannot be judge and judged," he told reporters after the vote. He declined to say whether his government was in the process of buying aircraft.

AIRCRAFT ALREADY ORDERED -SOURCES

Ivorian military sources said the government had ordered three Sukhoi fighter jets and three Mi-24 helicopter gunships and that two of each had already arrived in nearby states.

An earlier draft of the resolution had called for an arms embargo to be imposed as of Dec. 10, but French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere called for the weapons ban to take effect immediately because of the African Union appeal.

The resolution, co-sponsored by the United States, Britain, Germany, Spain, Romania and Chile as well as France, would ban arms sales to all sides, but enforcement will be difficult.    Continued ...

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