Norway and US clash over court

The US fears its peacekeepers could be prosecuted

By Barnaby Mason BBC diplomatic correspondent

Norway says it will reject a request by the United States to sign an agreement not to hand over Americans to the International Criminal Court, set up to try crimes against humanity.

Washington is trying to conclude bilateral agreements with as many countries as possible to prevent what it says is the danger of politically motivated prosecutions of American peacekeepers.

Norway has been a champion of human rights and regards the new International Criminal Court as a milestone in international justice.

The UN Security Council would not give the US immunity

The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jan Petersen, said the government could not accept the United States request.

The Americans were exaggerating the problems with the court, he said, and there were many safeguards to reduce the risk of its being abused.

The Bush administration says there is no effective mechanism to prevent the politicised prosecution of American citizens.

And it condemns the court's assertion of jurisdiction over Americans even though the United States has rejected the treaty setting it up.

Washington failed to get the UN Security Council to give its peacekeepers blanket immunity.

Bilateral deals

So instead, it is trying to conclude deals under which individual countries will undertake not to hand over Americans to the court.

Romania and Israel have already signed up.

Such agreements are permitted by a provision of the court's own treaty.

And according to American officials, this course of action was actually suggested by some of the allies which opposed the United States in the Security Council.

The Bush administration is now pressing European Union countries to sign immunity agreements.

They will meet next month to try to agree on a co-ordinated response.