Home page | News Thursday 19 May 2011
Chad says it will not execute ICC warrant against Libya’s Gaddafi
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May 18, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The Chadian government on Wednesday made
it clear that it will not cooperate with the International Criminal
Court (ICC) in arresting three Libyan officials named by the
tribunal’s chief prosecutor as suspects in the violent crackdown
against protestors that took place last February.
JPEG - 25.3 kb
FILE - Chad’s President Deby and Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi leave
a family photo during an EU-Africa summit in Tripoli (Reuters)
On Monday, the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced from the
Hague that he has presented a case to the judges against Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and spy chief Abdullah
al-Sanoosi on two counts of murder and persecution.
The Pre-Trial Chamber I will now have to decide whether there is
sufficient evidence that call for issuing arrest warrants against the
three men. The process could take anywhere from few weeks to several
months.
Omer Yahya, the press adviser for Chadian president Idriss Deby, told
the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper that his country is
committed to the African Union (AU) decision instructing members not
to cooperate with the ICC in arresting Sudanese president Omer Hassan
Al-Bashir who is also wanted by the court.
The Chadian official suggested that the decision applies to all
suspects wanted by the court that are still at large.
"It is true that we ratified the Rome Statute which established the
International Criminal Court but we also endorsed the decision of the
African Union adopted on July 2009 in Sirte, Libya refusing to
cooperate with the ICC," Yahya said.
"We are an independent country and stand by the decision of the
African Union and if there is a new resolution [mandating] cooperation
with the ICC we will be a part of it but so far the African Union has
not declared that it supports the decision of the Hague" he added.
Gaddafi has forced the AU in the 2009 Sirte summit to grant Bashir
immunity across the continent even in countries that are signatories
to the Rome Statute. At the time it was South Africa, Botswana and
Chad who opposed the decision and vowed to execute the warrant should
the Sudanese leader set foot on their territory.
But following a thaw in Chad-Sudan relations, Deby has welcomed Bashir
for a regional summit in Ndjamena and refused to arrest him contrary
to his earlier position. Kenya and Djibouti are the other two ICC
members that have allowed Bashir to visit without apprehending him.
In late February, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
unanimously referred the situation in Libya to the ICC as it did with
Darfur six years ago. Nigeria, Gabon and South Africa were the African
members of the council when the decision was passed.
At the time the Libyan UN delegation, which has denounced Gaddafi,
sent a letter to the UNSC president asking for an ICC referral which
allows the court to investigate even if the country has not ratified
the Rome Statute.
The AU has adopted no formal position with regards to the ICC referral
in the Libya case. The pan-African body has been hostile to the Hague
tribunal and accused it of targeting its leaders while turning a blind
eye to atrocities elsewhere.
Yahya further said that Chad will not recognize the National
Transitional Council (NTC) which is engaged in a military campaign to
unseat Gaddafi. It was formed on an ad-hoc basis in the wake of the
unrest across the country and contains senior figures who defected
from Gaddafi. So far it has managed to control most of the territory
in Eastern Libya.
"We do not stand with the Libyan rebels as they have no real authority
in their country. They do not control the situation so far......our
position is clear on the issue of the National Transitional Council in
Libya .. we do not support the rebels and what is happening in Libya
is an internal issue that has nothing to do with us," he added.
He said that Chad hopes for the situation in Libya to calm down and
become stable.
The remarks by the Chadian official will likely deepen the NTC’s
existing suspicions towards Libya’s Southern neighbor particularly
given the strong ties between Gaddafi and Deby in the past.
The NTC accused Gaddafi of bringing in African mercenaries from
several countries including Chad and Zimbabwe to help Libyan troops
trying to put down the uprising.
However, Chad vehemently denied the charges and even accused rebels of
executing its nationals for suspecting that they are mercenaries.
The ICC prosecutor said that he will investigate allegations made
about possible war crimes during the conflict in Libya including
attacks against sub-Saharan Africans wrongly perceived to be
mercenaries.
(ST)
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