US: The number of governments exempting Americans from prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC) has risen to more than 55 with the addition of Ivory Coast, Senegal and Zambia, a US official said yesterday.
The three signed agreements, known as Article 98 agreements, on or shortly before July 1st, the deadline for a decision on whether the US would continue to give them military assistance.
Washington fears the court could launch politically-motivated prosecutions of US civilian and military leaders but yesterday switched tack, appealing for "pragmatism".
A senior State Department official in Brussels said France had taken steps to put its nationals beyond the reach of the court and countries in the Afghan peacekeeping force had guaranteed immunity from prosecution for troops there.
"I want Europeans to understand that at a pragmatic level Americans see their own position as quite... reasonable and not different really, frankly, from what European political leaders require when it comes to their own nationals," said US Assistant Secretary of State for Political and Military Affairs Lincoln Bloomfield.