The U.N. Security Council planned to meet late Thursday to consider a draft resolution aimed at asking the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute crimes committed in Sudan's Darfur region. After an aborted vote Wednesday, the council wanted another go at a revised French draft to send the case to the ICC prosecutor at The Hague. The United States, which holds veto power, strongly opposes the move and views the ICC as a potential platform for politically motivated prosecutions of Americans serving in peacekeeping missions around the world. Diplomats from the council's 15 member countries met early Thursday at the French mission to the United Nations in New York, trying to iron out differences even though the draft had been amended to include the African Union in the prosecution process. The United States has raised the possibility of setting up a tribunal in Africa to conduct prosecutions as an alternative to the ICC. The draft said the ICC and the union will discuss "practical arrangements that will facilitate the work of the prosecutor and of the court, including the possibility of conducting proceedings in the region, which would contribute to regional efforts in the fight against impunity". --More 2348 Local Time 2048 GMT
