UN battles to save Bosnia peacekeeping mission

UN Security Council members have been trying to resolve a stand-off with the US over its demand for immunity for it troops from the new UN war crimes tribunal.

The US wants its peacekeepers to be exempt from arrest and prosecution by the International Criminal Court, which comes into existence tomorrow.

Washington has threatened to vote against extending the mandate for the UN operations in Bosnia, which expires at 5am UK time tomorrow if the 14 other council members refuse its demand.

The US says immunity is needed to prevent its troops and citizens from frivolous and political motivated prosecutions, but opponents say there are enough safeguards to prevent such abuse.

After failing to reach consensus in closed door council meetings on Friday, diplomats continued to discuss privately yesterday over the US demand.

‘‘We are continuing our discussions with other UN Security Council members on this issue,’’ US State Department spokeswoman Brenda Greenberg said yesterday when asked about any high-level contacts. She refused to elaborate.

After the meetings on Friday, US deputy ambassador James Cunningham said it was time for decisions to be made ‘‘at a political level to get a solution’’.

‘‘We haven’t resolved anything. The differences still remain,’’ he said.

The new court will prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes that take place on or after July 1, but it will step in only when countries are unwilling or unable to dispense justice themselves.

The US objects to the idea that its citizens could be subject to the court’s jurisdiction if a crime is committed in a country that has ratified the treaty even if the US is not a party.

Former US President Bill Clinton signed the treaty creating the tribunal, but the Bush administration announced last month it wants nothing to do with the court.

Britain and France have proposed a compromise that would require the court to defer any investigation of a US peacekeeper for 12 months, allowing time for the individual to be brought home.

But the US rejected the proposal because it would not grant the Americans immunity.

If no solution for the immunity issue is found, there would be ‘‘serious implications’’ for UN peacekeeping operations, Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said on Friday.

At stake would be the 14 other UN peacekeeping missions from the Ethiopia-Eritrea and Iraq-Kuwait borders to Cyprus, Congo and East Timor, as well as the Nato-led force in Kosovo, which is also authorised by the Security Council.

The council was to vote today on a resolution to extend the mandate for Bosnia’s 1,500-strong UN police training mission and the authorisation for the 17,000-strong Nato-led force in the country.

This was supposed to be the last six-month extension for the UN mission in Bosnia which has been helping to develop a multi-ethnic and professional police force. The training operation is being handed over to the EU on January 1.

Mr Guehenno said the UN mission would immediately stop any ‘‘substantive operation’’ and go into ‘‘liquidation’’. It would be up to the EU to decide if it wanted to step in early, he said.

It’s uncertain what would happen to Bosnia’s Nato-led force, which includes 3,100 Americans. Its mandate comes from the 1995 Dayton peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia, but the Security Council has authorised it.

UN legal counsel Hans Corell told a closed-door council meeting on Friday that he believes a resolution is needed for it to continue, diplomats said.