U.S. Wants to Stop Burundi Massacre Probe

• Role of International Court in U.N. Investigation Is Cited

The Bush administration Wednesday sought to head off a European initiative to obtain Security Council support for an International Criminal Court role in investigating war crimes in Burundi. The move came one day after an influential U.N. panel proposed that the 15-nation council take an active role in backing investigations into atrocities by the world's first permanent war crimes court. The Burundian government appealed to the tribunal to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for the Aug. 13 massacre of more than 150 Congolese refugees in Gatumba, Burundi. Britain, France, Germany and Spain -- the council's four European members -- sought the inclusion of a provision endorsing Burundi's request in an otherwise routine resolution calling for the extension of the U.N. mission in Burundi until June 2005. The Bush administration opposes the global court on the grounds that it might conduct frivolous prosecutions against U.S. troops and officials engaged in military operations around the world. European governments insist that the court will target only the world's worst mass murderers. The United States agreed to support the resolution extending the U.N. mission only after the language was watered down to address American concerns that it would have encouraged and authorized U.N. investigators to cooperate with the international court. [more]