Belgium: Belgium has bowed to US pressure and agreed to limit the scope of its controversial war crimes law, writes Ian Black
American officials signalled that the changes might defuse a row which has led to the threatened boycott of NATO's Brussels headquarters and soured relations between the two countries.
NATO's secretary general, Lord Robertson, said last night he hoped a "major crisis" had been averted. The "universal competence" law has been used to target Mr Tony Blair, Mr Yasser Arafat and Mr Ariel Sharon, as well as former US president Mr George Bush snr.
In its original format, dating back to 1993, the law allowed virtually anyone to use Belgian courts to bring war crimes charges against virtually anyone else, regardless of where the alleged crimes were committed.
It was amended in April to allow the Belgian government to dismiss politically motivated or "propaganda" cases by transferring them to courts in the defendants' home country.
But the US insisted it wanted more done to prevent complaints being filed in the first place, preferably by repealing the entire law. Britain and Spain agreed. The issue exploded publicly when a case was made against Gen Tommy Franks, the US commander in Iraq, by a left-wing Belgian lawyer representing 19 Iraqis. But under the amended procedure, the complaint was lodged on May 14th and disposed of a week later.
Earlier this month, in the bluntest confrontation yet, the US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, warned publicly that American officials would be unable to come to NATO and hinted that financing for a new HQ would not be forthcoming.
Coupled with previous hints that the Atlantic alliance might relocate to a more pro-American eastern European country, the government panicked.
There were also fears in Flanders that US cargo vessels might switch away from using Antwerp.
Relations between Brussels and Washington have been poor since the start of the Iraq crisis, when Belgium joined the French-led "coalition of the unwilling" in opposing war and splitting NATO.
Mr Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian Prime Minister, insisted the amendments would make it harder to abuse the law.
These limit its scope to cases where Belgians or Belgian residents are directly involved. - (Guardian Service)