EU and Nato scramble to salvage Bosnia peace mission

International Criminal Court: American decision an 'enormous disappointment for everyone who wants some basic rules of decency'

The EU and Nato are scrambling to prevent damage to peace-keeping and police missions in Bosnia after the US threatened to pull the plug on UN missions. The US is concerned that its troops have not been granted immunity from the new war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court, which opened yesterday.

In Brussels, senior officials discussed whether they should step into the breach and bring forward plans for an EU police mission in Bosnia, scheduled to start at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, at a hastily convened meeting of Nato ambassadors, the 19-nation alliance issued a statement which reaffirmed that S-For's activities in Bosnia will continue.

Britain put the best face on its deteriorating relations with the US. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, tried to tone down criticism of the Bush administration by Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, who said on Sunday that the US decision was "an enormous disappointment to everyone in the world who wants some basic rules of decency".

Mr Straw insisted: "The relationship is a very close one. Sometimes between good friends you have disagreements, and the issue there is how do you resolve those." He added: "We understand their concerns. What we are involved in is a very detailed and active conversation with Americans to try to allay their fears."

Mr Blair's official spokesman said the Government understood America's concerns, but believed there were adequate safeguards to protect peace-keepers in the way the ICC had been set up.

On Sunday the US said it would block an extension of UN operations in Bosnia at midnight on Wednesday as part of a wider veto of UN peace-keeping operations, unless other nations agree to exempt US peace-keepers from prosecution by the new tribunal.

The decision has increased tensions between the EU and the US, although diplomats stressed that the central element of their strategy was to seek a resolution to the diplomatic crisis in New York. One argued: "I think that, over the next day or so, there will be some creative solution which, while not endangering the ICC, gives in somewhat to the Americans."

After last week's row over President Bush's demand that Yasser Arafat stand down, the British Government sought to stop the rift with Washington widening. Tony Blair told the Commons: "We understand the concerns of the United States, they are legitimate concerns, but our belief is they will be met." He added: "The advice we have is that it is inconceivable that our peace-keepers would find themselves brought before this court in any way."

The Prime Minister clashed with Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, who echoed America's fears by expressing "grave misgivings" that British troops could be put "in the dock" for carrying out their duties.

Following legal advice, Nato ambassadors said yesterday that their 18,000-strong peace-keeping force in Bosnia should not directly be affected by the US threat since it is not a UN operation. Instead, its mandate derives from the 1995 peace agreement signed in Dayton, Ohio, to end the war in Bosnia, and a technical agreement on the terms on which troops were invited into the country.

But, while the US – concerned about the presence of al-Qa'ida in Bosnia – has no plans to pull out its 3,100 troops, Germany would be affected. If the UN mandate was allowed to expire, the 1,600 German troops would, for legal reasons, be forced to withdraw to their barracks until the Bundestag agreed a new mandate for their presence, possibly based on an invitation from the Bosnian government. The only other Nato country which has the same legal problem is Luxembourg, which does not have troops in Bosnia.

The suggestion of a US pull-out from the police operations provoked a flurry of activity in Brussels, with suggestions that the EU could fill the gap. In fact the US only has 46 officers in the police operation out of a total of 1,500 drawn from 40 nations. A smaller mission of 500 peace-keepers from the EU is due to take over at the end of the year, with the job of training and supervising the domestic police force.