U.S. pulls advisors from Timor mission

Withdrawal follows row over U.N. war crimes court

The UN's mission in Timor has only a small U.S. component

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration is withdrawing three military observers from East Timor because they were not granted immunity from the new International Criminal Court, the State Department said Monday.

The announcement followed a U.S. veto of a renewal of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Bosnia Sunday after other members of the Security Council rejected its demand to make peacekeepers immune from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. (Full story.)

Most Security Council members believe the court, which went into effect on Monday, will be an essential institution to prevent and deter crimes against humanity.

The court is not expected to be up and running until next year but could take up any cases that arise after July 1.

President Clinton signed the treaty creating the court in December 2000, but President Bush opposes the treaty and won't send it to the Senate for ratification.

The Bush administration says the treaty does not go far enough to avoid the risk of politically motivated prosecutions, and it wants immunity for countries that contribute troops to U.N. peacekeeping operations but are not party to the ICC.

Under review

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Senior administration officials tell CNN they are in the process of reviewing U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world and could either pull U.S. personnel from the missions or veto them entirely if the U.S. does not obtain immunity guarantees for its peacekeepers.

U.N. peacekeeping missions in Western Sahara and Georgia come up for renewal on July 31.

The United States also contributes a small number of personnel to peacekeeping missions in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Kosovo, Kuwait and on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Although the number of U.S. personnel is small, a decision to pull U.S. assistance could also result in a significant loss of logistical support for those missions.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday that Bush administration would examine the issue on U.N. peacekeeping missions as they come up for renewal.

Other officials said that the immunity issue also would affect a decision whether or not to support the creation of future peacekeeping missions.

Blanket immunity

Boucher said that the U.S. decided to veto the full extension of the peacekeeping mandate in Bosnia, rather than just pull out U.S. peacekeepers, because it believes a blanket immunity should be extended to all U.N. peacekeepers regardless of where they serve.

"This question applies to us, as well as to others who are not members of the court but who participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations," Boucher said.

"To have that jurisdiction hanging over the heads of those who contribute to the peacekeeping operations, even when they're responsible ... we don't think that's appropriate."

The vote does not mean an immediate withdrawal of the small number of U.S. troops participating in the U.N. mission in Bosnia, which needs the authorization of the U.N. Security Council in order to continue.

However, U.S. officials have made clear they are staking out a position that could lead to a scaling down of U.S. peacekeepers there.

The Security Council had agreed to a 72-hour extension of the Bosnia mission, during which time Boucher said the United States hopes to come up with a solution.

The Bush administration is also in the process of pursuing bilateral agreements with all countries with which it conducts any type of joint military exercises or operations in order to guarantee U.S. personnel won't be turned over to the ICC.