UN to help coordinate post-conflict plan in Libya

UN to help coordinate post-conflict plan in Libya

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says the world body will help coordinate post-conflict plans in Libya.

Mr Ban told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that the United Nations would extend all possible assistance to the Libyan people and called on the citizens to focus on national unity and reconciliation.

The UN scribe said he would hold urgent meetings with the heads of regional and international organisations, including the African Union, the European Union and the League of Arab States on the way forward for Libya.

Prosecution of Gaddafi

On the question of the possible prosecution of Muammar Gaddaffi, Ban said itwas important to seek the mandate of the UN Security Council for that to take place.

He said he had no information on the whereabouts Gadaffi.

South Africa not assisting Gaddafi to exit

Meanwhile, South Africa has said it is not facilitating Muammar Gaddafi's exit from Libya after rebels swept into Tripoli and emphasised that the Libyan leader will not seek asylum in the Southern African country.

Foreign Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who stated this also denied at a media briefing in Johannesburg that South Africa had sent aircraft to Libya for Gaddafi's exit.

Nkoana-Mashabane said Gaddafi's current whereabouts was not known.

"Should we start speculating if he is going to ask for asylum in South Africa? No, we will not speculate because we know, yes for sure, that he will not ask to come here," Nkoana-Mashabane told reporters.

"I am quite amazed that there is even an insinuation that we are facilitating the exit of anyone," she added.

Mediation efforts

South African President Jacob Zuma had spearheaded a mediation effort by the African Union but two personal visits to Libya by the South African leader this year failed to produce a tangible outcome.

Zuma has been critical of NATO air strikes on Libya saying the United Nations resolution authorising intervention had been abused.

South Africa will not recognise a rebel government at this time. "As far as we are concerned, if this government falls, there is no government," Nkoana-Mashabane explained.

Calls for surrender

US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minster David Cameron and other world leaders have called on Gaddafi to relinquish power.

Cameron said on Monday that the UK would hand over Libyan assets in Britain to the National Transitional Council but that the fate of Gaddafi remained in the hands of the Libyan people.

Rebels in control

Libyan rebels entered Tripoli's central Green Square early on Monday amid little or no resistance from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the rebel National Transitional Council source reported.
 
Rebel fighters waved opposition flags and fired into the air in jubilation after reaching the square, once reserved for pro-Gaddafi rallies.

They are also reported to have taken control of the State television station in Tripoli.
 
Gaddafi’s sons captured and detained
 
The International Criminal Court Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has confirmed that Saif al-Islam, the son of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, had been captured and detained in Libya while a third of his seven sons was reportedly captured by the rebels on Monday.
 
“Saif was captured in Libya. We have confidential information from different sources that we have him within Libya’’, he said.
 
“It is very important to make it clear that there is an obligation to surrender Saif to the ICC in accordance with the Security Council resolution."
 
Libyan rebels said earlier that they had detained Saif and Gaddafi's eldest son Mohammed Al-Gaddafi.
 
ICC arrest warrants for Gaddafi and key allies
 
In June, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity after the UN Security Council referred the Libyan situation to the court in February.
 
The ICC prosecutor, Moreno-Ocampo, however reiterated that the rebel Transitional National Council in Libya had not yet been in touch with the ICC about the capture of Saif, but he would be in contact with them to discuss the next steps.
  

REUTERS/Susan/Emma/Ekata