New York, Sep 16 (DPA) The UN Security Council has voted in favour of a US request to haul Myanmar before the UN body to confront the South Asian nation over its human rights record.

The council voted 10-4, with one abstention, to debate Myanmar's alleged human rights violations, which the US said could be classified as a threat to peace and security in the region. The issue has never before been formally discussed at the UN.

China, Congo, Qatar and Russia voted against the request. Tanzania abstained from the vote.

The vote Friday was unusual because decisions to include issues for discussion on the agenda are procedural measures and are decided by the 15-nation council in closed-door meetings. China strongly opposed including Myanmar on the agenda, forcing the US to demand the vote in an open session.

It takes nine votes to put an item on the agenda. A negative vote by any of the five permanent members - the US, Russia, China, France and Britain - does not constitute a veto in a procedural matter.

China's Ambassador Wang Guangya told the council before the vote that he considered US Ambassador John Bolton's demand to debate Myanmar "preposterous".

Wang said human rights and drugs issues in Myanmar cannot be seen as a threat to international peace and security.

Bolton called the vote "significant". He said: "It's a major step forward for President (George) Bush to call the attention of the international community on the situation in Burma (now Myanmar). We see the refugee situation in Burma as a threat to peace and security."

Bolton insisted on calling Myanmar by its original name Burma. The country is "known to the US as Burma," he said.

Bolton asked the council to discuss Myanmar after Sep 19, following the opening of the UN General Assembly.

The UN had described the human rights and humanitarian situation in Myanmar as "grave". Concerns include the detention of over 1,100 political prisoners, outflow of refugees, drug trafficking, HIV/AIDS and health-related issues.

Bolton told the council in a letter that the existing conditions in Myanmar "threaten to have a destabilising impact on the region".

"Therefore, we request that the situation in Myanmar, known to the US as Burma, be placed on the council's agenda, and that a senior UN official formally brief ... the Security Council on this situation and its implications for international peace and security," the letter said.

The military government in Myanmar has rejected UN calls for faster democratic reform, including the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League of Democracy, the main opposition party. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has been under house arrest for over a decade.