Is it safe to leave him alive and beyond the reach of international law?
Franco Frattini: escape route for Gaddafi
The Guardian (guardian.co.uk), tonight
DIPLOMATS DISCUSS LIBYA’S FUTURE AS ITALY PLOTS GADDAFI’S ESCAPE ROUTE
Rome is negotiating an African haven for the Libyan leader as international pressure mounts on him to go
By Julian Borger and Richard Norton-Taylor
Efforts appear to be under way to offer Muammar Gaddafi a way of escape from Libya, with Italy saying it is trying to organise an African haven for him, and the US signalling it will not try to stop the dictator from fleeing. The move came as diplomatic and military pressure on Gaddafi mounts as Britain tries to assemble a global consensus demanding he surrender power while intensifying air strikes against his forces.
Britain will be hosting an international conference including the UN, Arab states, the African Union, and more than 40 foreign ministers, focused on coordinating assistance in the face of a possible humanitarian disaster, and building a unified international front in condemnation of the Gaddafi regime and in support of a Nato-led military action in Libya.
On the eve of the London conference, Italy offered to broker a ceasefire deal in Libya, involving asylum for Gaddafi in an African country. “Gaddafi must understand that it would be an act of courage to say: ‘I understand that I have to go’,” said the Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini. “We hope that the African Union can find a valid proposal.”
A senior American official signalled that a solution in which Gaddafi flee to a country beyond the reach of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating war crimes charges against him, would be acceptable to Washington, pointing out that Barack Obama had repeatedly called on Gaddafi to leave.
“I can’t say I know of active efforts to find him a place to go, but I would not say it has been ruled out,” the official said. “The ICC has said it will ready to pursue the case, but there are also the rules of the ICC,” he added, pointing out that some countries do not recognise the court’s jurisdiction.
British officials said they would rather see Gaddafi face trial, but if his escape was the price of a peaceful settlement they would be able to live with that.
David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy tried to ratchet up the pressure on Gaddafi, issuing a joint statement on the eve of the conference declaring his era over, and indicating that his lieutenants might escape prosecution if they abandoned him immediately. “We call on all his followers to leave him before it is too late,” they said.
(…)
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Read the full report here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/28/diplomats-meet-italy-gaddafi-escape
“A senior American official signalled that a solution in which Gaddafi flee to a country beyond the reach of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating war crimes charges against him, would be acceptable to Washington, pointing out that Barack Obama had repeatedly called on Gaddafi to leave.”
Wouldn’t a country beyond the reach of the ICC merit a coordinated attack by the US and its allies, in the same way as Libya?
I am a bit confused now. I am now proud that Malta was not part of the coalition, and I hope the PM will not now tell us that his position was compatible with this new position of the coalition because he was the first to tell us that Gaddafi’s exit was “inevitable.”
The wrong message is being sent out to tyrants: you can spend 42 years in greed, breaching the human rights of your people, and then we let you go. What sort of justice is that?
Ronald Reagan must be turning in his grave really now.
In addition, why would Frattini want to broker a ceasefire deal in Libya? Didn’t the Libyan Prime Minister assure Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, in one of those calls to Castille, that the Libyan government was observing a ceasefire?
Didn’t Libya declare two ceasefires in as many days?
It was the UN Security Council resolution to demand a ceasefire by the Libyan government, and Gaddafi has not complied despite his two declarations of a ceasefire. Why negotiate with this “man”?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/28/rape-claim-parents-threat
Iman al-Obeidi being pressured to drop claims while being held at Gaddafi’s complex.
Gaddafi is now still alive and beyond the the reach of international law. Any solution which leads to an end to the conflict is positive. The continuation of the current conflict will lead to more dead and injured persons. The Pope yesterday appealed for an end to the conflict.
The current conflict can only have a military solution which would probably involve ground troops or a political and diplomatic solution.
Would ‘an end to the conflict’ protect Gaddafi’s opponents from his excesses? Would it cover those held out of sight and out of reach in prisons?
No and no.
@ david
The Pope is asking the impossible. Peace with Gaddafi is a death sentence commuted to a later date when his goons can come and finish what they had promised.
‘Evil awakens when men of good intent cower’ – make no mistake, Gaddafi is evil. If military action stops now there will be nothing more than a false peace. The rebels know it, the military know it, but the question is whether some politicians can stomach the next phase of this little war.
Your headline says it all. Only one solution. One guy, one shot–bulls eye!
Jeez! You’re right on, Daphne. Sky news (Press Preview) right now talking about letting the bastard get away. Various destinations, mostly in Africa. Has to be tongue in cheek. Smirks everywhere.
How about a solution that is acceptable to Libyans who oppose Gaddafi?
Why inflict him on an African country that is beyond the reach of international law? Any country in that position has enough problems already.
Zimbabwe anyone? They deserve each other.
That’s the most likely destination.
The only good Gaddafi is a dead one. If he is offered a safe haven somewhere in Africa, what is to stop him or members of his family from financing some terrorist attack a La Lockerbie in retaliation?
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2011/March/Iranian-Regime-Video-Says-Mahdi-is-Near-/
The head nutter in Teheran now thinks he is the third antichrist or something.
Why does it have to be an African country when they can offer Elba?
or Lampedusa
From Elba he will make a comeback. It has to be St. Helena, but first there must be Waterloo.
Filfla.
How about John Dalli’s Portomaso apartment?
Or Malta.
Or Sardegna, actually. I understand there is available room in Berlusconi’s villa.
I think he’ll end up going to Zimbabwe. No, this is not yet another punchline.
Immunity from prosecution in this case really conveys the message to other dictators/ governments that they can get away with it.
Justice needs to be served and seen to be served especially in cases involving genocide and crimes against humanity.
This conflict cannot end with the dictator being granted safe asylum, not after all the bloodshed, and the oppression that has been levied on the people in Libya. I can understand the economic and political reasons to end this conflict quickly but by his own admission, Gaddafi and his regime need to face a fair court of law and be prosecuted for their crimes and receive just punishment.
“In a late development, The official Tunisian news agency said Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa arrived in Tunis on what it called a “private visit”. No further details were available.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110329/local/rebels-march-on-gaddafis-home-town
Italy was not even invited to take part in today’s dicussion about Libya’s future in London.
That conference was called specifically to try to get Germany to change its mind. Italy is already in the “persuaded” group.
Minister Franco Frattini is on his way to London.
Gaddafi, Mintoff, KMB, AST and all the other loonies mucking together down on the sub-Saharan African homestead. Great idea.
Everyone is pointing a finger at Massimo Giletti and the next day 550 landed in Malta. Very curious.
The Libyan Leader is offered a safe haven, and they’ll let him get away with murder – how ironic.
If Gaddafi is allowed to leave Libya to some ‘friendly’ country such as Zimbabwe or Venezuela you can be damn sure that he (or his sons) will make a comeback a few years down the line. They are not the sort of people who will give up. Whether they plan to take back Libya or just wreak havoc to take revenge the consequences will be unthinkable.
Even if they are convicted for war crimes, given that it would not result in a death sentence they will still remain a danger.
The only safe way of dealing with him is to eliminate him while it is still ‘acceptable’ to do so.
One American official has already alluded to a way of doing this. He said something like – ‘we are of course not deliberately targeting him – our laws prohibit that. However if he happens to be inspecting a missile site and we happen to drop a bomb on it at that time we have no way of knowing he was there would we?’