Gaddafi now wanted for war crimes

International judges ordered the arrest today of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for murdering civilians, as world leaders stepped up calls for him to end his rule.

The International Criminal Court said Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi are wanted for orchestrating the killing, injuring, arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of civilians during the first 12 days of an uprising to topple Gaddafi from power, and for trying to cover up their crimes.

The warrants turn the three men into internationally wanted suspects, potentially complicating efforts to mediate an end to more than four months of intense fighting in the North African nation.

The warrants will be sent to Libya, where Gaddafi remains defiantly entrenched. But when the UN Security Council ordered the court to investigate the bloodshed in Libya, it also urged all nations and regional organisations to cooperate with the court.

Presiding judge Sanji Monageng of Botswana called Gaddafi the “undisputed leader of Libya” who had “absolute, ultimate and unquestioned control” over his country’s military and security forces. She said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that Gaddafi and his son are both responsible for the murder and persecution of civilians.

Libyan officials rejected the court’s authority even before the decision was read in The Hague, accusing the court of unfairly targeting Africans while ignoring what they called crimes committed by Nato in Afghanistan, Iraq “and in Libya now.”

“The ICC has no legitimacy whatsoever. We will deal with it. ... All of its activities are directed at African leaders,” a government spokesman said.

In Brussels, Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the court’s decision highlighted the increasing isolation of the regime.

“It reinforces the reason for Nato’s mission to protect the Libyan people from Gaddafi’s forces,” he said, adding that the Libyan leader and his supporters need to realise that “time is rapidly running out for them.”

Nato air forces have been conducting daily air strikes against military targets in Libya for the past 100 days. The bombing campaign, which does not appear to have significantly weakened Gaddafi’s grip on power, has drawn increasing international criticism.

In Tripoli, two loud explosions shook the area near Gaddafi’s compound today, setting off a chorus of emergency sirens.

Judge Monageng said evidence presented by prosecutors showed that following popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, Gaddafi and his inner circle plotted a “state policy ... aimed at deterring and quelling by any means – including by the use of lethal force – the demonstrations by civilians against the regime.”

Hundreds of civilians were killed, injured or arrested, she said.

Prosecutors at the court said the three suspects should be arrested quickly “to prevent them covering up ongoing crimes and committing new crimes.”

“This is the only way to protect civilians in Libya,” said the statement from the office of Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

It is unclear how the warrant could restrict Gaddafi’s travels within Africa, since many African states are not ICC signatories and others have declined to act on an ICC arrest warrant for another African leader, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

The African Union has said al-Bashir’s arrest would dangerously imperil the fragile peace process in Sudan and had asked the UN to defer the warrant for one year.