UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan and key UN Security Council members intensified opposition to a US draft resolution that would renew the exemption of US soldiers from international prosecution.
Consequently, the administration of US President George W. Bush on Friday still lacked the required nine votes to renew the measure, which would give US troops immunity from the new International Criminal Court. The previous resolution expires on June 30.
The court is the first permanent international tribunal to try cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
"We're going to be coming back to the council by Tuesday with a final plan -- with our position in terms of next steps," US representative Stuart Holliday said.
The resolution was first approved in 2002 after the US vetoed a UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, and threatened to oppose others, one by one.
The immunity would be extended to all nations not among the 94 countries that have ratified a treaty establishing the court, set up to prosecute the world's worst atrocities -- genocide, mass war crimes and systematic human rights abuses.
But this year the abuse by US troops of prisoners in Iraq is largely responsible for opposition among the 15 council members, diplomats said. The court steps in only when a nation refuses to or cannot carry out its own probe, making it highly unlikely US citizens would ever appear before the tribunal.
No council member is expected to veto the resolution but a significant number of abstentions would kill the measure.
China's UN ambassador, Wang Guangya (
The only sure "yes" votes at the moment come from Britain, Russia, Angola, the Philippines and the US. Pakistan and Algeria were undecided, council sources said.
Annan appealed for the second consecutive day to council members to oppose the resolution, distributing a memo at their monthly luncheon on Friday. He said the measure undermined international law and sent an "unfortunate signal any time -- but particularly at this time."
The memo "strongly urges the council not to renew this measure."
After the lunch, Annan said the resolution would shatter the unity achieved in the council when it last week endorsed a new interim Iraqi government and a US-led multinational force. He noted the council was "hopelessly divided" last year, refusing to authorize the war in Iraq. "We have some very difficult challenges ahead of us, and the council needs to be able to work together and to speak with one voice," Annan said.
"Everybody was excited that the last resolution [on Iraq] was voted unanimously," he said.
"And I posed the question: If we want the council to be divided by this issue of the ICC -- because it will divide the council."
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
Floods on Sunday trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain as torrential rain drenched the northeastern Catalonia region, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Local media shared videos of roaring torrents of brown water tearing through streets and submerging vehicles. National weather agency AEMET decreed the highest red alert in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180mm of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro River delta. Catalan fire service spokesman Oriol Corbella told reporters people had been caught by surprise, with people trapped “inside vehicles, in buildings, on ground floors.” Santa Barbara Mayor Josep Lluis
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
TICKING CLOCK: A path to a budget agreement was still possible, the president’s office said, as a debate on reversing an increase of the pension age carries on French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency late on Wednesday said that Macron would name a new prime minister within 48 hours, indicating that the appointment would come by this evening at the latest. Lecornu told French television in an interview that he expected a new prime minister to be named — rather than early legislative elections or Macron’s resignation — to resolve the crisis. The developments were the latest twists in three tumultuous
RSS