US suspends military aid to 50 countries

The United States yesterday suspended military assistance to almost 50 countries, including Malta, because they have supported the International Criminal Court and failed to exempt Americans from possible prosecution.

As the deadline passed for governments to sign exemption agreements or face the suspension of military aid, US President George W. Bush issued waivers for 22 countries. But the 22 countries did not include Colombia - one of the largest recipients of US military aid in the world - or Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Other major countries liable to the suspension of military aid are Brazil, Cambodia, Serbia and South Africa.

Washington has spent about $2 billion in aid to Colombia in recent years but the US ambassador said last month that it will have to shoulder more of the burden.

A US official said that if countries had ratified the treaty setting up the international court and had not received a waiver, the ban on military aid would come into effect.

But the threat, enshrined in the American Service Members Protection Act of 2002, does not apply to the 19 Nato members and to nine "major non-Nato allies."

The suspension covers international military education and training funds, which mainly pay the cost of educating foreign officers at US institutions, and foreign military funding, which pays for US weapons and other aid.