WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (AFP) - Gambia has become the 13th country to sign a deal
with the United States exempting US troops from prosecution by the
International Criminal Court (ICC), the State Department said Tuesday.
   US and Gambian officials inked a so-called "Article 98" agreement at a
ceremony in Banjul on Saturday, spokesman Richard Boucher said.
   Under the terms of the deal, the west African nation pledged not to
extradite US soldiers for prosecution to The Hague-based court that
Washington virulently opposes.
   The United States has concluded similar deals with 12 other countries
since  the court came into being on July 1 -- Afghanistan, the Dominican
Republic, East Timor, Honduras, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Mauritania,
Micronesia, Palau, Romania, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
   Only five of the 13 countries -- Gambia, Honduras, Tajikistan, Romania
and  the Marshall Islands -- have signed and ratified the Treaty of Rome
that created the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.
   Two others, the Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan, have signed the Rome
treaty but not yet ratified it.
   Israel, along with the United States, signed the treaty but has no
intention of ratifying it.
   Afghanistan, East Timor, Mauritania, Micronesia and Palau have not
signed the treaty at all.
   Washington fears the court may be used as a tool to unfairly prosecute
US servicemen and women for political reasons and has warned that it may
withdraw military aid to large numbers of countries which refuse to sign
Article 98 deals.
   US diplomats around the world have been racing to negotiate as many
agreements as possible since July 1.

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