THE OBAMA administration has continued to praise UN Security Council Resolution 1970, which on Saturday night referred Col Muammar Gadafy’s regime to the International Criminal Court and introduced sanctions against Libya.
“It is time for Gadafy to go. We think he must go as soon as possible without further bloodshed and violence,” US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said yesterday. She was preparing to leave for today’s meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, which recommended on Friday that Libya be suspended.
Asked whether the administration was in contact with an interim government that has reportedly been set up by the former justice minister in Benghazi, Mrs Clinton replied: “We’ve been reaching out to many different Libyans who are attempting to organise in the east and as the revolution moves westward, there as well . . . we’re going to be ready and prepared to offer any kind of assistance that anyone wishes to have from the US.”
The security council resolution gives the court jurisdiction over crimes committed in Libya after February 15th, when the protests started in Benghazi. The court may investigate crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Its prosecutor will report regularly to the security council.
The vote by 15 council members marks the first time that the world body has voted unanimously to refer a member state to the court. In the only previous such vote, regarding Sudan’s crimes in the Darfur region in 2005, the US abstained.
The resolution imposes an arms embargo against Libya, including a prohibition on states allowing the transit of mercenaries bound for Libya. It calls upon states to inspect cargo that may contain weapons. Moreover, it lists 17 Gadafy loyalists subject to an international travel ban. It freezes the assets of six individuals, including Col Gadafy and his sons.
Until hundreds of US citizens were evacuated from Tripoli late on Friday, the administration was circumspect, out of fear that Col Gadafy might seize US hostages. That reticence evaporated once the White House was satisfied that US diplomats were no longer within Col Gadafy’s grasp.
“When a leader’s only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against its own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now,” President Obama said on Saturday.
Mr Obama’s words were later repeated verbatim by Mrs Clinton and by Susan Rice, US ambassador to the United Nations, a sign that the administration is determined to avoid sending mixed signals, as it did during the Egyptian uprising. The State Department gave the impression that former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak could stay in power until September, while the White House wanted him to step down immediately.
Saturday night’s resolution was also a source of satisfaction for the UN, which was slow to react to the turmoil in the Arab world. “I can’t remember a time in recent memory when the council has acted so swiftly, so decisively, and in unanimity on an urgent matter of international human rights,” Ms Rice said.
Russia, India and China had expressed reluctance to refer Libya to the court, but were swayed in part by the pleas of the Libyan delegation. When the resolution passed, the Libyan ambassador Abdurrahman Shalgam, who only a week ago described himself as Col Gadafy’s friend, said he hoped it would “help put an end to this fascist regime which is still in existence in Tripoli”. The Chinese delegation requested time to consult with Beijing, then cited Arab and African support when it voted Yes. The Arab League and the Organisation of African Unity, groups in which Col Gadafy fancied himself a leader, backed the sanctions resolution.
European diplomats expect the EU to swiftly follow the UN sanctions with similar penalties against the Gadafy family and other key figures in the regime.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is to meet Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, Turkish minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Australian minister Kevin Rudd.
“The crisis in Libya and the events that have unfolded in north Africa and the Middle East require a co-ordinated and comprehensive international response. The EU cannot act in isolation and as I have always said the international community is stronger and more effective if it works together,” Baroness Ashton said.