Reprieve for U.N. Bosnia mission

U.S. soldiers on patrol in Bosnia

NEW YORK -- A decision on the future of the Bosnia peacekeeping mission has been delayed after the U.S. and U.N. failed to reach a compromise over U.S. demands for immunity from the International Criminal Court.

The move will extend the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Bosnia until July 15.

The U.S. had threatened to end the operation at midnight on Wednesday (0400 GMT) unless its peacekeepers were guaranteed exemption from possible prosecution on war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity charges.

The deadline had been a 72-hour extension from an initial cut-off date of last Sunday.

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The ICC was opened in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Monday amid general widespread support.

But U.S. President George W. Bush is concerned that his soldiers could fall victim to politically-motivated charges. (Full Story)

Diplomats had been considering two U.S. compromise proposals throughout Wednesday, but failed to reach the necessary nine votes majority in the Security Council.

"More time is needed," said British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock.

The U.S., said it decided to delay a shut down until July 15 after being encouraged by the talks.

"It was clear that we weren't going to be able to reach agreement on a resolution regarding the International Criminal Court by midnight," U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said.

He said the United States had been waging an "uphill fight" in gaining understanding from other delegations of its viewpoint, but it had made progress.

"No one has really slammed the door shut on our proposals, and it was on that basis that we came to the conclusion that we should allow for the opportunity for these discussions to continue next week," Negroponte said.

But other U.N. peacekeeping missions come up for renewal in July, including the sensitive region of southern Lebanon.

Negroponte was quoted by Reuters as saying: "We do have to find some kind of resolution to this problem in due course.

"Otherwise we are going to be confronting it in a number of situations, and that's why we've been pursuing a generic solution to the problem if at all possible."

U.S. officials said their strategy is to delay the mission long enough for the Europeans to take over the Bosnian mission entirely -- ahead of the scheduled January hand over.

"If we can delay long enough then the whole issue becomes moot," explained a senior State Department official.

The U.S. has come under international criticism for its opposition to the ICC.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that the American proposal "flies in the face of treaty law" because it amounts to an amendment of the Rome statute.

He added: "The whole system of U.N. peacekeeping operations is being put at risk."

The U.N. has 14 other peacekeeping missions, from East Timor and the Middle East to Kosovo and the Congo.

More than 100 nations held an open meeting at U.N. headquarters on Wednesday to express dismay at the U.S. proposal and later sent a letter to council members urging that they respect the court's independence, The Associated Press reported.

The initial U.S. proposal only received the backing of China, with 10 of the 15 council members opposing. It proposed to give the council's veto-wielding members, the U.S., Britain, China, France and Russia, the right to permanently block the court's investigation or prosecution of peacekeepers.

A revised proposal introduced by Washington later on Wednesday would also allow the Security Council's permanent members to provide 12 months immunity for peacekeepers -- still denying the ICC jurisdiction over American peacekeepers.

The U.S. makes up 46 of the 1,500-strong U.N. police training mission which coaches 17,000 domestic officers. But it also has 3,100 soldiers serving with the NATO-led 18,000-strong international peacekeeping force, SFOR. (Full Story)

Air Force General Richard Myers, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, was quoted by AP at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday as saying that U.S. commitment in Bosnia, would not be affected by the dispute.