COLOMBIA EXEMPTS U.S. FORCES FROM WAR CRIMES COURT

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombia has signed an accord exempting Americans
from prosecution in the International Criminal Court, complying with a demand
from Washington needed to resume military aid to the drug-war ally.

The accord, signed late on Wednesday according to the Foreign Ministry, applies
to some 1,500 U.S. personnel in Colombia, including state department officials
and U.S. Special Forces training Colombian troops.

Colombia, where the government is fighting leftist guerrillas and drug
traffickers, is one of the largest recipients of U.S. military aid in the
world.

Washington suspended military assistance in July to 35 countries, including
Colombia, for failing to shield Americans from the international court -- set
up last year to try war crimes and acts of genocide.

The United States fears its nationals overseas could be vulnerable to
politically motivated charges. The United States signed the 1998 treaty
creating the court, but President Bush's administration later rescinded U.S.
backing.

Washington hopes the suspension in aid will pressure countries to sign "Article
98" agreements exempting U.S. personnel from prosecution in the court.
Colombia's agreement states that only the United States can decide who will be
sent to the ICC.

Only $5 million in military aid to Colombia was affected by the July
suspension, out of about $100 million total this year.

A U.S. official said Colombia's Article 98 agreement should allow Bush to scrap
the suspension on aid to the troubled South American nation before the next
budget-year begins in October.

Colombia is gripped a four-decade-old guerrilla war, claiming thousands of
lives a year, and supplies most of the world's cocaine.