UN ends military mandate in Libya

The UN Security Council last night cancelled its authorisation for a seven-month-old Nato military operation in Libya that led to the ouster and death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The termination of the mandate came despite a request from Libya’s interim government for the Security Council to wait until the National Transitional Council made a decision on whether it wants NATO to help it secure its borders.

The 15-nation council unanimously approved a resolution terminating the UN mandate, which set the no-fly zone over Libya and permitted foreign military forces, including Nato, to use “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians.

The resolution said the UN authorisation for foreign military operations in Libya will lapse at 11.59pm local Libyan time on October 31.

Britain’s UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant welcomed the unanimous vote, telling reporters it “marks a really important milestone in the liberation of Libya.”

The NTC officially announced Libya’s liberation on October 23, days after the capture and death of Gaddafi.

Libyan deputy UN ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi asked the council on Wednesday to wait before terminating the mandate.

Dabbashi said the government needed time to assess the security situation in its country and its ability to monitor its borders.

Western diplomats, however, said council members did not want to wait. They said issues such as Libya’s border security fell outside the UN mandate to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly zone.

Meanwhile, Libya’s new rulers said they would prosecute the killers of the ousted dictator following the international outcry over the circumstances of his death.

“With regards to Gaddafi, we do not wait for anybody to tell us,” said Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the ruling National Transitional Council at a news conference in Benghazi.

“We had already launched an investigation. We have issued a code of ethics in handling of prisoners of war. There were some violations by those who are unfortunately described as revolutionaries. I am sure that was an individual act and not an act of revolutionaries or the national army,” the top interim official said.

“We had issued a statement saying that any violations of human rights will be investigated by the NTC. Whoever is responsible for that (Gaddafi’s killing) will be judged and given a fair trial.”

Gaddafi’s fugitive son Saif al-Islam wants an aircraft to take him out of Libya’s southern desert so he can turn himself in to The Hague war crimes court, a source with Libya’s National Transitional Council said last night. The claims could not be verified elsewhere.