US troops will stay in Bosnia despite Washington's row with other members of the UN Security Council about its demand for immunity from a new global war crimes court, the US ambassador in Sarajevo said today.
"US troops will stay in Bosnia. The mandate of SFOR (the NATO-led peacekeeping force) is based on the Dayton Peace Accords and the decisions of the Peace Implementation Council," ambassador Mr Clifford Bond told reporters.
Earlier, the US threat to withdraw from peacekeeping duties in Bosnia was met with concern in the former Yugoslavian territory.
Washington has threatened to withdraw its forces if the UN does not agree to its demand to have all its peacekeepers immune from the powers of the new International Criminal Court (ICC) which was formally established today.
Last night, the US vetoed a resolution extending the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia but later agreed to keep the mission alive for three more days while the Security Council considers their demads.
Canada expressed dismay after the United States threatened to veto the renewal of the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, saying it was an unnecessary step which would threaten peace and stability in the Balkans.
However the US Ambassador to the UN, Mr John Negroponte, was adamant that the UN were being given time to make arrangements and that Washington was not going to change its mind.
The United States has threatened to withdraw from all UN-authorised peacekeeping operations unless its immunity demands are met for each peacekeeping force.
"It's not a question of one mission or another, it's a question of peacekeeping in general, and until we reach some sort of satisfactory resolution of this problem, it is going to come up over and over," Mr John Negroponte said.
The US move has been severely criticised by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Its spokesman Mr Mr Jean-Paul Martoz said that giving in to US demands would be like "launching a nuclear bomb" against international justice.
Bosnian authorities are monitoring developments in the United Nations, Washington and Brussels, where NATO's top decision-making body meets today to discuss the future of Bosnia's 19,000-strong peacekeeping Stabilisation Force (SFOR).
Bosnian foreign ministry spokesman Mr Amer Kapetanovic said: "We hope that common sense will prevail, and the UN's Bosnia mission will be extended until the end of the year as planned.
"Unfortunately, we are a small country and we are not able to influence decisions by major states."
The US move has been severely criticised by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Its spokesman Mr Mr Jean-Paul Martoz said that giving in to US demands would be like "launching a nuclear bomb" against international justice.
There are 60 Irish military personnel, mainly employed as military police, currently in Bosnia as part of SFOR mission.
A spokesman for the Department of Defence told ireland.com that the Irish presence in Bosnia is on foot of United Nations authorisation. If the UN Security Council fail to get a renewed mandate for the mission the Irish presence in Bosnia would be called into question and the Government would have to direct the Irish force to cease all mission operations.
Some of the 19 countries contributing troops to SFOR have indicated they will pull out unless the force has continued council approval, despite such approval not being a statutory requirement.
Thirteen of the council's 15 members - including Britain, France, Russia and China - had voted against the United States on the initial resolution to extend the mission, with Bulgaria abstaining.
Diplomats said it was the first time in memory they could recall Washington in open opposition to long-time close allies London and Paris.
The three-day extension resolution was then approved unanimously.