US: The US is turning up the heat on the countries of the Balkans and eastern Europe to secure war-crimes immunity deals for Americans and exemptions from the year-old International Criminal Court, writes Ian Traynor in Zagreb
In an exercise in brute diplomacy which is causing more acute friction with the European Union following the rows over Iraq, the US administration is threatening to cut off tens of millions of dollars in aid to the countries of the Balkans unless they reach bilateral agreements with the US on the ICC by the end of this month.
The American campaign, which is having mixed results, is creating bitterness and cynicism in the countries being intimidated, particularly in the successor states of former Yugoslavia which perpetrated and suffered the worst war crimes seen in Europe since the Nazis.
They are all under intense international pressure, not least from the Americans, to co-operate with the war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
"Blatant hypocrisy," said Human Rights Watch in New York on Tuesday of the US policy towards former Yugoslavia.
Threatened with the loss of $73 million in US aid, Bosnia signed the exemption deal last week just as Slovenia rejected American pressure and cut off negotiations.
Of all the peoples of former Yugoslavia, the Bosnians suffered the most grievously in the wars of the 1990s, from the siege of Sarajevo to the slaughter of Srebrenica.
The Bosnians signed reluctantly, feeling they had no choice. Former Yugoslavia is particularly central to the US campaign to exempt Americans from the scope of the ICC because there are US troops in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Washington is vehemently opposed to the permanent International Criminal Court, arguing that US soldiers, officials and citizens will be targeted for political reasons, an argument dismissed by the court's supporters, who point out that safeguards have been built into the rules governing the court's operations.
Under President Bill Clinton, Washington signed the treaty establishing the court. The US did not ratify the treaty, and President George W. Bush rescinded Mr Clinton's signature.
While the Slovenes have said No to the Americans, probably forfeiting $4 million in US aid, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia are now being pressed to join the 39 other countries worldwide with which Washington has sealed bilateral pacts granting Americans immunity from war crimes.
Croatia is sitting on the fence, refusing to accept what its Prime Minister, Mr Ivica Racan, dubbed "an ultimatum", but still hoping to reach a compromise with the US.
In Serbia, too, where the issue of war crimes is explosive, the US pressure is being attacked as a ruthless display of double standards.
The EU has sent letters to all the countries in the region advising them to resist the US demands and indicating that surrender will harm their ambitions of joining the EU. Regional leaders are waiting to see what kind of offers or promises this month's EU summit in Greece makes to the region before deciding on their stance towards the ICC. - (Guardian Service)