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]