WASHINGTON: Switzerland and Yugoslavia on Tuesday handed the US new diplomatic rebuffs by rejecting its attempts to press them into signing bilateral deals to stop the possibility of Americans appearing before the International Criminal Court.

Joseph Deiss, the Swiss foreign minister, said the US suggestion would have undermined the court’s authority and the principle of universal justice. “I do not believe Switzerland should sign this kind of agreement,” Mr Deiss said. “We hope the United States will not impede the work of the court.”

The Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica has also turned the US down. “Those who would enjoy immunity from prosecution would not only sleep soundly, but would also be encouraged to keep committing crimes,” the state news agency Tanjug reported him as saying.

Mr Kostunica’s predecessor, Slobodan Milosevic, is already on trial at the Hague before the tribunal specially set up for Yugoslavia which predated the formation of the court, and there is a strong feeling in Belgrade that the US is using double standards.

The Swiss and Yugoslav decisions are the latest moves in an extraordinary and almost subterranean diplomatic conflict that has spread yet more poison into the relationship between Europe and the US over the past month.

One European diplomat said on Tuesday: “There is not even an agreement to disagree. Feelings are very deeply held on both sides of the Atlantic.”

The court, based in the Hague, officially came into being on July 1 with a brief to prosecute individuals accused of violating human rights anywhere in the world — if their own government does not take action first. The US signed the Rome treaty setting up the court but has failed to ratify it. The UN security council has agreed to give US soldiers taking part in peacekeeping operations a year’s grace before they would have to be handed over to the court.

However, America responded to what seemed to be a face-saving deal by demanding that other countries sign private agreements to exempt US citizens completely. They have also threatened to withdraw military aid from any country that refuses to comply. Nato members and other important strategic allies are exempt from the threat.

So far only two countries have agreed to the deal — Israel and Romania. The Romanian foreign minister, Mircea Goana, said afterwards that he regretted not consulting the EU first, after the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, made known his displeasure.

Romania is anxious to join both the EU and Nato. The US linked the agreement with support for Romanian membership of Nato, but Romania now fears it may have compromised its European ambitions. Other countries may face similar dilemmas.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service