The Libyan government has dismissed an arrest warrant issued against President Muammar Gaddafi wanted by the international criminal court for rape and other war crimes saying that the court is politically biased.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim says the ICC is a political court that serves its European paymasters, “Our own courts will deal with any human rights abuses and other crimes committed in the course of conflict in Libya.”
Britain, another leading member of the UN-mandated effort to protect civilians against Gaddafi’s forces, has also welcomed the decision, “Individuals throughout the regime should abandon Gaddafi,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
The US government describes the ICC warrant against Gaddafi as “another indication” that Gaddafi has lost all legitimacy.
The Australian Government said the warrants should serve as a warning to other leaders who commit grave crimes.
“These warrants reflect the real readiness of the international community to take action when grave crimes are suspected,” Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said today. “The ICC’s action should serve as a warning to those who violate international humanitarian law that they can no longer commit crimes with impunity.”
However, the ICC still lacks credible evidence that rapes have taken place in Libya’s civil war and cannot for the moment prove that Gaddafi ordered for the rapes.
prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says that the ICC is still trying to link Gaddafi, his son Saif Al-Islam Gadhafi and brother in law Abdullah al-Sanussi to the rapes. Ocampo says that the first investigation focuses on the three individuals but will include other names.
The warrants are “for crimes against humanity,” including murder and persecution, “allegedly committed across Libya” from February 15 through “at least” February 28, “through the state apparatus and security forces,” the court said in a news release.
In a related incidence, Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda,South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Congo’s Dennis Sassaou Nguesso, Amadou Toumani Toure from Mali and Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz from Mauritania are meeting in pretoria for a speedy resolution of the libyan criss.
The African Union has mandated leaders of South Africa, Mauritania, Congo, Mali and Uganda to form a high-level committee to handle the Libyan crisis through engaging conflicting parties in an inclusive dialogue.
The decision to form the committee resulted from a meeting of the AU’s peace and Security Council recently held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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