Belgium to scrap law that irked US

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said his new government, sworn in Saturday, has decided as one of its first acts to scrap the law which has angered the United States.

He told a news conference the move was aimed at preventing abuses of the law, which has also seen a case launched against British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

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"I think we have definitely solved this question," Verhofstadt said, hours after his government had been sworn in by King Albert II.

The 1993 law gave Belgian courts the power to try war crimes cases no matter where they were committed.

In future, the right to launch cases would be restricted to Belgians or people resident in the country. All cases apart from those involving Belgians would be dropped, he said.

The norms of international immunity would also be respected. Any cases that were launched would take into account Belgium's agreements with NATO allies and other European Union members.

The law got Belgium into all kinds of trouble.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said Washington would be reluctant to send US officials to Brussels for meetings at NATO headquarters and that it was opposed to any further spending on a new alliance headquarters.

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, who angered Washington with his staunch opposition to the war in Iraq, was also caught by the law as he was accused by an opposition party of illegally authorizing arms shipments to strife-torn Nepal.