The draft resolution, obtained Monday by the Associated Press, would give the nearly 15,000-strong peacekeeping force authority to apprehend Taylor, who was given asylum in Nigeria after giving up the presidency in August 2003, "in the event of a return to Liberia."

Taylor resigned and fled the country as part of a peace deal brokered as rebels besieged the Liberian capital, Monrovia. He was later indicted by the U.N.-backed war-crimes tribunal for backing Sierra Leone rebels in their insurgency, but Nigeria granted him asylum and has refused to hand him over to the court.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji said in July that the government will consider a request from a democratically elected government in Liberia for Taylor to be repatriated, "but not to a third country." Liberia is scheduled to hold presidential elections on Oct. 11.

The draft resolution expresses appreciation to Nigeria and its president, Olusegun Obasanjo, "for their contributions to restoring stability in the West African sub-region." It also acknowledges "that Nigeria acted with broad international support" when it gave Taylor asylum.

But the proposed resolution emphasized that Taylor's return to Liberia "would constitute an impediment to stability and a threat to the peace of Liberia and that of the sub-region."

It would therefore expand the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Liberia to take Taylor into custody and take steps to have him transfered to the tribunal in Sierra Leone.

Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. Mission, said Security Council experts would meet Tuesday to discuss the draft. The United States came up with the idea for the resolution about three months ago, but put it aside because it did not believe it had enough support until now, he said.

Last week, the court's chief prosecutor, Desmond De Silva, said the tribunal is pressing Nigeria to hand over Taylor and is searching for Johnny Paul Koroma, a rebel leader who was reported to be alive last year.

The tribunal wants to prosecute both before it wraps up its work in about 18 months. But even if the tribunal closes, they will not escape prosecution if they are found afterwards, De Silva warned.

Several rebel military commanders are being tried on charges stemming from accusations of systematic killings, rapes, enslavement of child soldiers and mutilation with machetes during the vicious 1991-2002 insurgency in the diamond-rich country.

President Obasanjo( Left ), CharlesTaylor( Right )