This appears to be the reason why diplomats from some economically powerful nations in the group of like-minded states were issuing non-committal replies to reporters who wanted to bind them down to unequivocal statements on the state of the ICC negotiations.

There was uncertainty, for example, on how the chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Philippe Kirsch, would go about with the new package everyone expects him to produce by Wednesday evening. 

Will it be on a take it or leave it basis? Or, will it be one or two rounds of voting? Diplomats did not rule out such a possibility. Others from across the Atlantic suggested that once a decision was taken in favour of a vote, it would not be confined to one or two rounds: ''We might end up in tens of rounds.'' Especially if India, backed by the Non-Aligned Movement, is adamant on the inclusion of the use of nuclear weapons as a war crime by the proposed ICC, they remarked.

And what if the U.S. concludes that the 60-odd like-minded states were uncompromising? Will the U.S. delegation then take to 'nyet' -- the inevitable response for which the defunct Soviet Union's master diplomat, Andrei Gromyko, became eminently famous?

It is not against the U.N. practice that member states vote against a resolution, if they do not want to refrain from casting their vote or even staying away from the voting session. What then?  Meetings and informal discussions are underway in the last crucial hoursof the conference, many of them involving the American position. However, Bill Pace, convenor of the Coalition for an ICC (CICC) announced Tuesday that his appointment with the US delegation for evening of the same day had been cancelled. 'Leave them alone; they are not yet ready' - this seemed to be the message Jelena Pejic of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights conveyed in response.

''We would like to have the U.S. on board right from the beginning. However, if they wish to repeat their performance at the Landmines Treaty negotiations, let them! But we are not going to give in on the issue of an independent and effective ICC,'' pledged a delegate from the like-minded group.

As the conference nears the end, these countries have come under ''massive pressure'' from Washington - as delegates from among the allied and powerful and less powerful nations admitted without wanting to go on record. At least some of them from among the economically powerful states appeared to be puzzled: There are certainly more important issues than that of the ICC in relations between the U.S. and their European allies.

''Nerves are lying bare,'' said another delegate. ''And it might get worse when we have the final draft of the Bureau proposal,'' he added, predicting that a tug-o-war would ensue, with each side desperately trying to bring the other to its knees.

But for all the obstacles in the path of the ICC negotiations, the struggle between protagonists and opponents here have been debating even the most controversial aspects in a friendly and constructive manner, assured a delegate. Spoken like a true diplomat. Ramesh Jaura / IPS