US lifts threatened sanctions against Antigua

President George W. Bush 
campaigning Saturday
AFP PHOTO/Luke FRAZZA

Monday, November 3, 2003

GULFPORT, USA (AFP): The United States Saturday lifted aid sanctions against Antigua and Barbuda and six more countries in return for their agreement not to extradite US citizens indicted by the International Criminal Court.

A White House statement issued in Gulfport, Mississippi, where President George W. Bush was on a campaign trip, said Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, East Timor, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda had signed an accord satisfying Washington's demands.

The United States cut off military aid to 38 countries that refused to sign an accord that effectively grants US citizens immunity from ICC jurisdiction. Under US law, Washington must suspend assistance to most ICC member nations that have not signed such agreements.

Washington fears the court could become a forum for politically motivated prosecutions of US citizens, especially soldiers deployed abroad, and has been on a worldwide campaign to sign bilateral immunity deals.

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