Rebels Want Qaddafi to Face ICC

On July 22, the deputy head of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), Ali Essawi said that he wanted to see Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi stand trial at the International Criminal Court in Hague.

Deputy head of Libyan NTC Ali Essawi said, "We would like to have Gaddafi taken to the ICC, we would like justice to play its role and we would like to see the crimes paid also. There is no contradictory between the two. No-one can forgive him, even if he left the country. His crimes have touched all over the world, not only the Libyans, even other people and other countries and his terrorist actions, and we cannot forgive him on behalf of the others also."

Ali Essawi added, "Negotiations will be only on the departure of Gaddafi. We will not negotiate on his staying in Libya or ruling the Libyans, this is in principle. His statement belongs to him, as far as we know that Gaddafi will not step down. He is insisting on the killing of the Libyans, he is insisting on the revenge from the Libyans and he will not leave the country or the power"

Last month, the Hague-based ICC issued warrants for the arrest of Gaddafi, his son Saif Al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Al-Senussi on charges that they ordered the killing of protestors.
Meanwhile, on July 21, Gaddafi addressed thousands of supporters in an audio message saying that he would never negotiate with the rebels. NTC officials rejected his statement.

African Union Members will not cooperate with Gaddafi warrant

Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi has made clear he would not recognize the International Criminal Court's authority.

The African Union says its members will not cooperate with the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, arguing that the measure jeopardizes efforts to negotiate a peace deal in the war-torn nation.

The arrest warrant "seriously complicates the efforts aimed at finding a negotiated political solution to the crisis in Libya," said a statement summarizing the countries' decision at a summit in Equatorial Guinea that ended Friday.

A three-judge panel at court in the Hague in the Netherlands issued arrest warrants June 27 for Gadhafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi.

The warrants are "for crimes against humanity," including murder and persecution, "allegedly committed across Libya" from February 15 through "at least" February 28, the court said in a statement.

The court's judges said the arrests were necessary "to ensure their appearances before the court," ensure that the three "do not continue to obstruct and endanger the court's investigations" and "prevent them from using their powers to continue the commission of crimes."

Libya is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the international court's authority, and the court does not have the power to enter Libya and arrest the leaders.

Gadhafi has made clear he would not recognize the court's authority.

Some analysts said last week that the court's move could damage efforts to get Gadhafi to end his 42-year reign, stopping him from leaving the country for fear of being prosecuted.

"In effect, the ICC arrest warrant tells Gadhafi to fight to the death," said Michael Rubin, an analyst with the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Speaking to reporters after the court issued the warrants last week, chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo batted away questions from reporters about whether an ICC arrest warrant would discourage Gadhafi from stepping down.

He said the decision to investigate Gadhafi came from a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution, not the court.

The U.N. Security Council referred the matter to the ICC through a resolution February 26, following widespread complaints about Gadhafi's efforts to crush a rebellion.

In a statement Sunday, a spokesman for the British Foreign Office called on Gadhafi to end violence and leave office, noting that the NATO coalition's aim was to protect civilians, not arrange a safe exit for the Libyan leader.

"We have been clear that those responsible should be held to account. The ultimate political objective is to facilitate a transition to a stable, democratic Libya," the spokesman said in a statement. "To achieve this, Gadhafi must step down, and leave Libya to the Libyan people."

On Sunday South African President Jacob Zuma was scheduled to head to Russia for a meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya.

The situation in Libya is slated to be a top agenda item at a Russia-NATO Council meeting Monday, Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the Kremlin.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as part of the meeting in Russia's Black Sea resort town of Sochi, the news agency reported.

"The sole possibility of stabilizing the situation in Libya is an immediate cease-fire and the start of talks between the internal Libyan participants in the conflict with the support of, but not interference from, outside," the Kremlin said, according to RIA Novosti.

Arrest warrant could make Gaddafi more dangerous

The international criminal court's decision to charge Muammar Gaddafi with crimes against humanity both tightens and legitimises the noose that David Cameron and others had gratuitously hung around the Libyan leader's neck.

But far from hastening his removal from power, the court's demarche may reinforce Gaddafi's determination to stay and fight to the bitter end. Few would dispute that Gaddafi and two close associates, his son, Saif al-Islam, and Libya's military intelligence chief, Abdullah al- Senussi, have a case to answer.

The pre-trial chamber judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe the three men conspired to impose a state policy "aimed at deterring and quelling, by any means, including by the use of lethal force, the demonstrations of civilians against the regime which started in February".

Gaddafi "had absolute, ultimate and unquestioned control over the Libyan state apparatus of power, including the security forces", and used it to enforce his plan to crush the uprising, the judges declared. Saif Gaddafi, his father's "unspoken successor and the most influential person within his inner circle", and Senussi "both made an essential contribution to implement that plan", the court alleged.

The ICC's action will be applauded by advocates of universal justice and humanitarian law and by supporters of UN notions of the international community's responsibility to protect. It will also be welcomed by the British and French governments, prime movers in the Libyan military intervention, as further evidence that their parallel, non-military campaign to isolate, ostracise, delegitimise and undermine Gaddafi is working, even if Nato bombing is not.

"The warrants demonstrate why Gaddafi has lost all legitimacy and why he should go immediately," said the British foreign secretary, William Hague. He went on to urge Gaddafi supporters to consider their own positions in the light of the ICC ruling. "People at all levels of seniority should think carefully about the consequences of what they do," Hague warned.

Those involved in continuing regime attacks on civilians would be held responsible. It's an obvious divide-and-rule tactic, but it may slowly be having a cumulative effect. Reports this week of secret talks in Tunisia involving senior Libyan cabinet members, high-profile defections and a renewed offer by the regime spokesman (later partially withdrawn) to put Gaddafi's continued tenure to a popular vote have encouraged those looking for fatal cracks in the Tripoli edifice.

Welcoming the warrants, a rebel spokesman suggested they meant Gaddafi was finished and there was no longer any point in even trying to negotiate with a "war criminal" regime. As usual, there is a large dose of unreality and wishful thinking about all this. The ICC's action could easily backfire, as have other aspects of Libyan policy.

The court's personal targeting of Gaddafi will revive questions about the wisdom of the Anglo- French-US approach (distinct from that of Nato) of making his removal from power the key measure of success in Libya. It will also fuel claims that the ICC is only interested in pursuing African leaders, as in Sudan and Kenya, and that the US in particular (which is not a party to the ICC) is guilty of double standards.

The UN security council resolution authorising military intervention was silent on the issue of Gaddafi's status. It had to be. If the resolution had been openly portrayed as authorising regime change, or a de facto assassination, it would certainly have been vetoed by Russia or China or both.

Yet British officials now privately admit that nothing less than a fresh start will suffice – and that if Gaddafi were perchance to die in a bombing raid on a command and control target, his killing would be regarded as justified. Thus is one man's fate now dictating the course of the war and the wider international policy associated with it. For his part, Gaddafi and his people are adamant he will not stand down, will not leave the country and will not hand himself over to the ICC or anybody else.

"Muammar Gaddafi is Libya's historical symbol and he is above all political actions and tactical games," said Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim. "In this current stage and in the future, Gaddafi is the historical choice which we cannot drop."

On his refusal to budge, Gaddafi has been entirely consistent from the outset and, because he has nowhere to go and because the ICC has effectively branded him an international outlaw, it seems implausible to believe he will change his mind now. The ICC has added its weight to attempts to corner Gaddafi. But cornered, he is rendered all the more dangerous.