The UN Security Council has voted in favour of another one-year exemption for US peacekeepers on a UN-backed mission from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court.
France, Germany and Syria abstained in the vote, which received 12 votes in favor. The French and Germans ignored a US appeal not to further strain the division over the war against Iraq.
The UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan spoke out strongly against any attempt to try to make the exemption permanent - which the US initially sought.
He warned this would not only undermine the International Criminal Court but the authority of the Security Council "and the legitimacy of United Nations peacekeeping".
The resolution, adopted by a vote of 12-0 with the three abstentions, authorises a year-long exemption from arrest or trial for peacekeepers from the US and other countries that have not ratified the Rome treaty establishing the court.
The International Criminal Court was set up to try individuals for the world's most heinous atrocities - mass murder, serious human rights violations and war crimes.