The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Tuesday it could be “game over” within months for Moamar Gaddafi, but China reacted cautiously to the issuing of an arrest warrant for the Libyan leader on charges of crimes against humanity.
“Today, it is time for arrests,” ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters in The Hague, a day after the ICC approved warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi. “It is a matter of time … Gaddafi will face charges. The arrest warrants are not going away.” He added: “I don’t think we will have to wait for long…In two or three months it is game over.” Prosecutors allege the three men were involved in the killing of civilian protesters who rose up in February against Gaddafi’s 41-year rule. Rebels have pushed to within 80 km (50 miles) of the capital Tripoli. China stopped short of condemning or endorsing the court’s action. “China hopes the ICC can prudently, justly and objectively carry out its duties, and ensure that its relevant work genuinely aids regional peace and stability,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said when asked about the warrants.
China has denounced the ICC’s war crimes indictment of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, currently on a state visit in Beijing. He and Gaddafi are the only sitting heads of state facing warrants from the court.
Beijing generally avoids entangling itself in nations’ domestic affairs and has been sceptical about the NATO military operation to back rebels fighting Gaddafi.
UN panel approves travel ban for Gaddafi’s wife: A UN Security Council sanctions committee has banned Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi’s wife from traveling outside Libya and ordered any of her foreign assets seized, Western diplomats said on Monday. Although Gaddafi and other members of his family have been on a UN blacklist since February, Russia had blocked for months the inclusion of Gaddafi’s wife Safia and Planning and Finance Minister Abdulhafid Zlitni on the list of individuals facing a travel ban and asset freeze until last week.
Libya fires back at ICC arrest warrant for Gaddafi: Moamar Gaddafi ’s government has hit back at an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes against the Libyan leader, charging the tribunal was just a tool of European powers. On the ground, rebel fighters on Tuesday captured a large arms depot from pro-Gaddafi forces in the desert near their mountain enclave southwest of Tripoli in big boost to their resupply, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. Human rights bodies and the West, meanwhile, hailed the ICC’s move on Monday that came on the 100th day of a NATO bombing campaign. AFP
