Bruton says Seville declaration 'absurd'

Irish troops may have to be sent home from missions because the United States does not want its soldiers subject to trial for war crimes.

The US is threatening to pull all its troops out of Bosnia and cancel any future missions unless they are given immunity from prosecution at the new international criminal court.

Fine Gael are claiming that the Seville declaration is absurd and insist now that Irish military situations will be affected by the US announcement.

John Bruton pointed out that according to the Seville declaration we would not send troops overseas without a UN mandate.

This decision was made during the Seville summit recently.

However, the present conflicting situation with the US means that Ireland will not be able to have independent control over its troops.

This may happen if superpowers such as the US, China and Russia can make the UN compromise when they want in the future, according to Fine Gael.