Tuesday, 23 August 2011
A Libyan man congratulates a rebel fighter at green square ,renamed Martyr's square by rebels in Tripoli. (Photo by REUTERS)
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound is now fully in the hands of opposition fighters and the country will be liberated within 72 hours, Libyan UN envoy Ibrahim Dabbashi said on Tuesday, as rebels think Libya’s colonel was in or near Tripoli.
Qaddafi’s compound is “totally in the hands of the revolutionaries,” Dabbashi, a key figure in the Libyan opposition movement, told reporters at Libya’s UN mission in New York.
He predicted that the city of Sirte, Qaddafi’s home town, would fall within the next 48 hours and that the entire country would be under rebel control within three days.
Qaddafi’s compound is “totally in the hands of the revolutionaries,” Dabbashi, a key figure in the Libyan opposition movement, told reporters at Libya’s UN mission in New York.
He predicted that the city of Sirte, Qaddafi’s home town, would fall within the next 48 hours and that the entire country would be under rebel control within three days.
“We expect Libya to be totally liberated and totally calm and peaceful within the next 72 hours,” he said.
He said that Qaddafi and other top officials are probably scattered in houses across Tripoli, though they could be in an underground shelter.
A spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council, meanwhile, said Qaddafi is either in or near to Tripoli.
“We don’t think that he has left the country. We believe he is still inside Libya. We believe that he is either in Tripoli or close to Tripoli,” Guma al-Gamaty told BBC television.
“Sooner or later, he will be found, either alive and arrested--and hopefully that is the best outcome we want--or if he resists he will be killed.”
The opposition is prepared to discuss the indictments of Qaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam and his intelligence chief with the International Criminal Court in The Hague but would like to put them on trial as war criminals in Libya, Dabbashi said.
The ICC indicted the trio for crimes against humanity and other war crimes in June. The court’s chief prosecutor has made clear he would like all three handed over to the court so they can try them in the Netherlands.
Dabbashi, a veteran Libyan diplomat, was the first of Tripoli’s envoys abroad to denounce Qaddafi’s crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrations in February. His defection to the opposition inspired dozens of other Libyan diplomats to repudiate the government and join the rebel cause.
He said that Qaddafi and other top officials are probably scattered in houses across Tripoli, though they could be in an underground shelter.
A spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council, meanwhile, said Qaddafi is either in or near to Tripoli.
“We don’t think that he has left the country. We believe he is still inside Libya. We believe that he is either in Tripoli or close to Tripoli,” Guma al-Gamaty told BBC television.
“Sooner or later, he will be found, either alive and arrested--and hopefully that is the best outcome we want--or if he resists he will be killed.”
The opposition is prepared to discuss the indictments of Qaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam and his intelligence chief with the International Criminal Court in The Hague but would like to put them on trial as war criminals in Libya, Dabbashi said.
The ICC indicted the trio for crimes against humanity and other war crimes in June. The court’s chief prosecutor has made clear he would like all three handed over to the court so they can try them in the Netherlands.
Dabbashi, a veteran Libyan diplomat, was the first of Tripoli’s envoys abroad to denounce Qaddafi’s crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrations in February. His defection to the opposition inspired dozens of other Libyan diplomats to repudiate the government and join the rebel cause.
No comments:
Post a Comment