US to resume some military aid to Latin America

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Some US military aid kept from Latin American nations that did not agree to exempt American troops from the International Criminal Court will start flowing again when President Bush signs waivers, a senior defence official has said.

Those waivers, now on Bush's desk, are seen as critical to Pentagon officials including US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who arrived in Nicaragua on Sunday to meet with regional Defence ministers.

"There's going to be probably no nation on Earth that's going to agree with us all the time," Rumsfeld said.

"That being the case, it has been and is today and would be in the future unfortunate if our immediate reaction to some disagreement or difference as to a policy issue were to have the automatic effect of severing military-to-military relationships."

Bush is expected to sign waivers for nine countries in the region including Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, but not Venezuela, a senior Defence official said.

- REUTERS