Gaddafi planned to kill civilians, court says

THE International Criminal Court has evidence that Muammar Gaddafi’s government planned to put down protests by killing civilians before the uprising in Libya broke out, the ICC’s prosecutor has said.

Protests against the government that began on February 15 swiftly descended into civil war after Gaddafi’s forces opened fire on demonstrators. He then put down uprisings in Libya’s west, leaving the east and the city of Misrata in rebel hands.

NATO-led air power is now holding the balance in Libya, preventing Gaddafi’s forces from overrunning the seven-week-old revolt, but unable for now to hand the rebels outright victory.

The United Nations Security Council, which on March 17 sanctioned air strikes on Libyan government forces to prevent them killing civilians, in February referred Libya to the ICC, the world’s first permanent war crimes court.

Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is to report back to the UN on May 4, and is then expected to request arrest warrants.

“We have evidence that after the Tunisia and Egypt conflicts in January, people in the regime were planning how to control demonstrations inside Libya,” Moreno-Ocampo said.

“They were hiding that from people outside and they were planning how to manage the crowds… the evidence we have is that the shooting of civilians was a pre-determined plan.

“The planning at the beginning was to use tear gas and (if that failed to work)… shooting.”

The court prosecutor wants to speak to former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa, who defected to Britain last week saying he did so because of attacks on civilians by Gaddafi’s forces.

Koussa’s defection would be taken into consideration in the investigation into Gaddafi, his sons and aides, Moreno-Ocampo said, hinting others inside the government might follow suit.

Fighting on the frontline in the eastern oil terminal town of Brega has become bogged down with Gaddafi’s advantage in tanks and artillery cancelled out by NATO-led air strikes which effectively back the rebels.

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have similarly failed to make any progress with the government side offering concessions, but insisting Gaddafi stay in power and the rebels adamant that Libya’s leader for the past 41 years leave.

After a series of rapid rebel advances followed by headlong retreats, the insurgents held their ground for six days in Brega, putting their best trained forces in to battle for the town and keeping the disorganised volunteers away.

The rebels appear to be set for a boost with the arrival of a tanker in one of their ports which can carry one million barrels of crude, worth more than $100 million, which would be their first shipment since the fighting broke out.

Reuters