U.N. to replace U.S. peacekeepers
From CNN's Lauren Rivera
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The United Nations plans to replace U.S. military personnel removed from peacekeeping missions in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kosovo, because Americans are no longer exempt from international prosecution for war crimes, a U.N. spokesman said.
"There will be a need to replace those people and our peacekeeping department will look into that issue," Stephane Dujarric said.
A seven-person team will be removed from the U.N. mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. In addition, two liaison officers will be taken from the U.N. mission in Kosovo, Larry Di Rita, a Defense Department spokesman, said Thursday.
The United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court. U.S. officials had operate been covered by an exemption preventing international prosecution for war crimes.
The exemption expired Wednesday.
The United States has signed 90 bilateral agreements that bar prosecution of U.S. officials by the court for war crimes, but that does not include the areas the nine people will be leaving, Di Rita said.
"We'll continue to evaluate these missions going forward, and additional U.N. missions will certainly evaluate the importance of the U.S. being involved in the mission and balance that against the risks of U.S. exposure to the mission," Di Rita said.
"But in these two particular cases it was determined on an interagency basis that the risk was not appropriate to our forces, and so they were withdrawn."
