UNITED NATIONS, July 4: The United States on Wednesday failed to persuade the UN Security Council to give its peacekeeping troops exemption from the new International Criminal Court (ICC) instead agreed to continue its Bosnia mission until July 15.

Washington has not ratified the creation of the ICC and had threatened to end its mission in Bosnia within three days.

However, during the last 72 hours the US delegation failed to muster nine votes in the 15 member Security Council to go along with its demand of giving its peacekeeping troops immunity from prosecution.

The Council unanimously extended the Bosnia mission until July 15 giving US time to confer with member states to go along with its position.

US Ambassador John Negroponte said it has been “an uphill fight” to get the Security Council to support the US demand, but some members saw movement in the US position and wanted to continue discussions — so Washington agreed.

The United States vetoed a resolution on Sunday extending the Bosnian mission because it didn’t grant immunity to American peacekeepers, but agreed to a 72-hour extension until midnight on Wednesday. Negroponte had vowed not to extend the mission without winning an exemption for US peacekeepers.

After agreeing to the delay, Negroponte said, “We do have to find some kind of resolution to this problem in due course. Otherwise, we are going to be confronting it in a number of different situations.”

Britain’s UN Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, the current council president, said the Bosnia mandate “will be brought back to the council in the course of next week.”

The Security Council was seeking a six-month extension of the 1,500-strong UN police training mission in Bosnia.