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China delays UN vote on
US troop immunity
China delayed a UN Security Council vote on a
controversial measure to extend the immunity of US
peacekeeping troops from prosecution for war crimes.
The proposal for a one-year renewal of existing
immunity comes amid a mounting scandal over the US
abuse of prisoners in Iraq, which deepened with new
pictures published in The Washington Post.
Diplomats said the Chinese delegation indicated it had
not yet received word from Beijing on how to vote on
the resolution, which is expected to pass despite
several expected abstentions on the 15-nation council.
The measure is now likely to be put to a vote next
week.
Human rights groups have blasted the United States
over the resolution, first adopted two years ago to
keep US troops in UN peacekeeping operations outside
the reach of the International Criminal Court at The
Hague.
"Given the recent revelations from Abu Ghraib prison,
the US government has picked one hell of a moment to
ask for special treatment on war crimes," said Richard
Dicker from Human Rights Watch.
Dicker charged that the Bush administration was
nevertheless trying to rush the resolution through
before the Security Council takes up another
resolution on the handover of power in Iraq, a claim
rejected by a US spokesman.
"There isn't anyone here at the UN that is not
thoroughly aware of the United States position on the
International Criminal Court," Richard Grenell,
spokesman for US ambassador John Negroponte, told AFP.
He said trials under way of US troops allegedly
involved in Iraqi prisoner abuse showed "that we have
a court system that deals with perpetrators of crimes
and ensures that they are fully prosecuted in a quick
and transparent manner."
The immunity deal has been controversial ever since it
was first adopted two years ago.
The United States muscled other nations into accepting
the resolution in 2002 by threatening to veto all UN
peacekeeping operations until they gave in.
The next year, three council countries abstained when
the first 12-month renewal was approved.
Technically, the resolution keeps UN peacekeepers from
nations that have not ratified the Rome Statute, which
established the world court, outside its reach. The
immunity is renewable in one-year increments.
The court is the first permanent international
tribunal to try cases of war crimes, crimes against
humanity and genocide. It began operation earlier this
year.
Washington signed the treaty but later backed out,
saying it feared the tribunal would be politicized and
that its troops abroad could be charged for war crimes.
The United States has instead persuaded 89 countries
to agree to bilateral immunity deals, Grenell said,
which he noted was virtually equal to the number of
nations, 94, that have ratified the court.
On Friday, The Washington Post described transcripts
from Iraqi prisoners that said they were sexually
fondled by female soldiers and forced to eat food from
toilets.
The documents included hundreds of new photos and
short video clips of torture by the US military at
Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, the daily said.
"Coalition forces soundly deny the allegations," US
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the top US military
spokesman, told a Baghdad news conference.
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