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Is the UN useless? Is the UN only as powerful/effective as it's members allow it to be?

France pushes for UN vote on Sudan; US may veto

France is to put to a vote today a U.N. resolution referring alledged Sudanese war crimes cases to the International Criminal Court, daring Washington to cast an embarrassing veto or accept a tribunal it opposes.
by: Evelyn Leopold on: 24th Mar, 05

After weeks of haggling on a comprehensive resolution on Sudan, the U.N. Security Council has been deadlocked on where to try alledged perpetrators of atrocities in the country's western region of Darfur.

On Wednesday, France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, introduced a draft resolution that would refer Darfur cases to the ICC, the world's first permanent criminal court, as recommended by a U.N. panel of experts in January.

But the United States offered to create a new U.N.-African Union tribunal in Tanzania that has drawn little support, with several council members arguing that only the ICC already has investigators on staff ready to begin work.

The Bush administration objects to this court, set up in The Hague to try war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It fears U.S. citizens could face what it calls "politically motivated prosecutions".

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