Prosecutor says ?game over? for Gaddafi

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says it’s only a matter of time before Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi is booted.

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Tripoli/The Hague - Libya's Muammar Gaddafi could fall within two to three months, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on Tuesday, as rebels sought to press an advance on Tripoli that has made rare progress in recent days.

The ICC's Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who on Monday announced an arrest warrant for Gaddafi on charges of crimes against humanity, is the latest international official to say the Libyan leader would soon capitulate to a Nato-backed revolt.

“It is a matter of time... Gaddafi will face charges,” Moreno-Ocampo told reporters in The Hague, where the warrants were approved for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi.

He added: “I don't think we will have to wait for long... In two or three months it is game over.”

While there is little chance of Gaddafi being arrested if he remains in power, the Libyan leader's foes have seized on the warrant to justify the three-month Nato bombing campaign and to try and bolster world opinion against him.

In comments that appeared to make any political settlement even less likely, rebels said after talks in Paris that even indirect contacts with Gaddafi were now excluded.

“I don't think there is any place for direct or indirect contact with Gaddafi,” Mahmoud Shammam, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council (NTC) said after meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Before the ICC move, Shammam was quoted earlier this week as confirming that talks with Gaddafi's side were under way through intermediaries and suggested Gaddafi could be allowed to stay in Libya as long as he stepped down from power.

In its eastern stronghold of Benghazi, the NTC hosted the foreign minister of Bulgaria, whose country along with Romania brought to at least 22 the total of countries which recognise the NTC as representatives of the Libyan people.

That does not include United Nations Security Council veto-holder China, which has merely acknowledged the NTC as an “important domestic political force” and is reserved on the ICC warrants.

“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,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei.

The rebellion against Gaddafi has made little progress since Western countries began bombing three months ago, but rebels say they are finally advancing closer to Tripoli.

Rebels based in the Western Mountains region southwest of the capital made their biggest breakthrough in weeks on Sunday to reach the town of Bir al-Ghanam, where they are now fighting pro-Gaddafi forces for control, their spokesman said.

The move took them 30km north of their previous position and closer to Tripoli, Gaddafi's main power base.

A rebel spokesman said there had been further fighting on Monday. “Fighting broke out yesterday evening in Bir Ayad and Bir al-Ghanem. The (government) brigades used Grad rockets. The fighting stopped later after strikes by Nato,” he said.

A Reuters photographer said rebels tried to salvage weapons from a pro-Gaddafi arms depot 20km southeast of the nearby town of Zintan after it had been bombed by Nato, but they were prevented as fire broke out across the entire depot.

Elsewhere, rebels in Misrata said Gaddafi's forces struck at the Mediterranean coastal city 200km east of Tripoli overnight. Rebels have not been able to advance far from Misrata to approach Tripoli from the east.

“Gaddafi's forces bombarded Misrata last night. There were no casualties, thank God. Today the situation is quiet for the moment,” said the spokesman, who gave his name as Youssef.

The revolt has turned into the bloodiest of the Arab Spring uprisings against autocratic rulers across the Middle East, becoming a full-blown civil war with control of the country divided between the rebels and Gaddafi's government.

At a Nato briefing, Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard cited what he called “indiscriminate shelling” by Gaddafi forces in Nalut and Misrata. He said Gaddafi's government maintains a significant-sized force in the Brega area, where the frontline has barely moved in months.

The situation in Tripoli remained tense, he said, adding that Nato had reports that the government was still violently suppressing anti-Gaddafi protests in the capital. - Reuters

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/prosecutor-says-game-over-for-gaddafi-1.1090342

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