UN lifts Libya no-fly zone

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to lift the no-fly zone over Libya on October 31 and end its authorisation of military action to protect civilians.

The council adopted the resolution to end military action today, a day after Libya’s deputy UN Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi asked to council to wait until the transitional government made an official request.

The council authorised the actions on March 17 in response to an Arab League request to try to halt Muammar Gaddafi’s military, which was advancing against rebels and their civilian supporters.

The Nato bombing campaign that followed was critical in helping the rebels oust Gaddafi from power in August.

Meanwhile it has been reported that Gaddafi’s intelligence chief has reached the Kidal region of Mali overnight after crossing through the Niger desert, and Gaddafi’s son is also on his way.

An adviser to the president of Niger was speaking from the northern Nigerien city of Agadez, where Tuareg elders held meetings late into the night to discuss how to deal with the matter.

The intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senoussi, and Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam, are the two surviving members of the regime that are wanted by the International Criminal Court.

The adviser said that al-Senoussi had been escorted across the dunes by Malian Tuaregs and is in a desert camp in the region of Kidal.

Gaddafi’s son is expected to follow the same route.