U.N. to replace U.S. peacekeepers
July 3, 2004
UNITED
NATIONS (CNN) -- The United Nations plans to replace U.S. military personnel
removed from peacekeeping missions in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kosovo, because
Americans are no longer exempt from international prosecution for war crimes, a
U.N. spokesman said.
"There
will be a need to replace those people and our peacekeeping department will
look into that issue," Stephane Dujarric said.
A
seven-person team will be removed from the U.N. mission in Ethiopia and
Eritrea. In addition, two liaison officers will be taken from the U.N. mission
in Kosovo, Larry Di Rita, a Defense Department spokesman, said Thursday.
The
United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court. U.S.
officials had operate been covered by an exemption preventing international
prosecution for war crimes.
The
exemption expired Wednesday.
The
United States has signed 90 bilateral agreements that bar prosecution of U.S.
officials by the court for war crimes, but that does not include the areas the
nine people will be leaving, Di Rita said.
"We'll
continue to evaluate these missions going forward, and additional U.N. missions
will certainly evaluate the importance of the U.S. being involved in the
mission and balance that against the risks of U.S. exposure to the
mission," Di Rita said.
"But
in these two particular cases it was determined on an interagency basis that
the risk was not appropriate to our forces, and so they were withdrawn."
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Unlimited, high
