The Court would also be the first world body under the United Nations' umbrella, over which the Security Council will not exert direct control.

It is probably too early to announce the birth of a new era of global governance and civility in international relations.

Indeed, the US chief delegate, David Scheffer, did underline his fears Friday night by defiantly announcing to the world that no conference, international meeting, preparatory committee, no one "will derogate the powers of the Security Council under the UN Charter".

And yet, this legal document does just that, although there are many years to go before it becomes a real tribunal, with jusrisdiction over most of the world's countries. Ratification, as several NGOs and diplomats have warned, will be the true test of the Court.

On late evening of Friday, when all that was left to do was the delivery of delegations' statements for the record at the Plenary, Scheffer finally adopted a humbler tone.

He said what many others had said before, when he was attempting to stop the flood of support in favour of the Court: that the United States had significantly contributed to the ICC and that such work would stand.

He expressed disappointment that the Court statute was not to the US' liking, but promised that Washington would continue to exert leadership and provide support to "international justice".

Not long before that, Scheffer had tabled a lonely proposal to put the Statute to a vote, which got the support of just seven countries, most of them hiding in the anonimity of an unrecorded vote.

Earlier, at the Committee of the Whole, the US had attempted but failed to introduce an amendment (similar to one by India) that would have further delayed agreement on the Statute. A motion of no action, presented by Norway, was widely supported (113 votes).

All this did not create a great atmosphere for the United States, whose delegates had over the last five weeks conducted a sustained campaign of persuasion, threats and what some delegates and NGOs described as "filibustering," in order to achieve its objectives in the Conference.