ICC to Track Down Perpetrators of ‘War Crimes’ in Libya

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that the court has issued four new secret arrest warrants for crimes allegedly committed in Libya since 2011.

“I can announce today that four warrants were issued by the independent judges of the International Criminal Court,” Khan said in presenting his half-yearly report on Libya to the UN body.

At the beginning of the session, held under the Swiss presidency, the representative of the Russian Federation, Maria Zabolatskaya, expressed a reservation about the presence of the “so-called Prosecutor of the so-called Court.” Her delegation does not understand why he is invited to the Security Council, she said.

Khan’s office had issued a warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, due to the atrocities committed against children as part of the war on Ukraine.

Despite Zabolatskaya’s objection, Khan delivered his speech.

He said his Office is coordinating with Libyan authorities and that in the coming weeks, it will be conducting a further mission to Libya to engage with national authorities, including with respect to the potential establishment of a country office in Tripoli.

The Security Council unanimously referred Libya to The Hague, Netherlands-based ICC in February 2011 to launch an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The referral followed Moammar Gadhafi’s brutal crackdown on protesters that was then taking place. The uprising, later backed by NATO, led to Gadhafi’s capture and death in October 2011.

Meanwhile, the US is pushing Libyan parties to hold general elections before the end of this year. Washington’s efforts came in parallel with the UN attempts to complete the legal legislations necessary for holding these elections.

The UN envoy for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, is holding talks with Libyan authorities to facilitate the adoption of the legal framework and time-bound roadmap to the elections.

Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, US Special Envoy to Libya Richard Norland intensified his meetings with the Libyan leaders to move the political track forward and to break the political stagnation.

In a phone call on Wednesday, Norland discussed with Libyan Presidential Council member, Abdullah Al-Lafi, efforts towards national reconciliation in Libya and ways to progress towards holding elections on schedule.

According to a tweet from the embassy on Thursday, “both parties agreed that efforts to promote national reconciliation in Libya are necessary to ensure long-term peace and prosperity throughout the country.”

They also discussed “the need for concerted and tangible efforts by Libyan parties to make progress towards holding elections on schedule and ensuring fair revenue distribution,” according to the tweet.

The US dynamic in Libya accompanied Bathily’s talks with head of the High Council of State (HCS), Khaled Al-Mishri, on the progress made in basic files leading to elections.

The meeting was held at the headquarters of the Presidential Council in Tripoli on Wednesday.

The media office of the Presidential Council said the two sides focused on the progress made in the basic files to conduct elections in 2023 and on ways to support the 6+6 Committee to fulfill its responsibilities as soon as possible.

Bathily held other meetings and contacts in Tripoli to discuss the Libyan file. On Wednesday, the UN envoy met with President of the Libyan Presidential Council (LPC) Mohamed al-Manfi.

He also spoke on the phone with House of Representatives Speaker Aqila Saleh and discussed the urgent need to speed up the elections.

In a separate development, Libyan Foreign Minister, Najla Al-Mangoush, reaffirmed her country’s readiness to support mediation efforts between the conflicting parties in Sudan as well as the humanitarian efforts that seek to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people.

Her remarks came in a meeting in Tripoli with Libyan ambassador to Sudan, Fawzi Boumriz.

The ambassador briefed the FM on the measures taken by the Libyan embassy in Khartoum to evacuate the Libyan community residing in Sudan following the outbreak of fighting.

He also informed Al-Mangoush on the latest developments in Sudan, and the efforts that can be made to help the Sudanese people in these circumstances, in addition to the possibility of communicating with the warring parties to prevail calm.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday that the window was closing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon.

Gallant's remarks came as the White House Special envoy Amos Hochstein visited Israel to discuss the crisis on the northern border where Israeli troops have been exchanging missile fire with Hezbollah forces for months.

"The possibility for an agreed framework in the northern arena is running out," Gallant told Austin in a phone call, according to a statement from his office, Reuters reported.

As long as Hezbollah continued to tie itself to Hamas in Gaza, where Israeli forces have been engaged for almost a year, "the trajectory is clear," he said.

The visit by Hochstein, who is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comes amid efforts to find a diplomatic path out of the crisis, which has forced tens of thousands on both sides of the border to leave their homes.

On Monday, Israeli media reported that the head of the army's northern command had recommended a rapid border operation to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

While the war in Gaza has been Israel's main focus since the attack by Hamas-led gunmen on Oct. 7 last year, the precarious situation in the north has fuelled fears of a regional conflict that could drag in the United States and Iran.

A missile barrage by Hezbollah the day after Oct. 7 opened the latest phase of conflict and since then there have been daily exchanges of rockets, artillery fire and missiles, with Israeli jets striking deep into Lebanese territory.

Hezbollah has said it does not seek a wider war at present but would fight if Israel launched one.

Israeli officials have said for months that Israel cannot accept the clearance of its northern border areas indefinitely but while troops remain committed to Gaza, there have also been questions about the military's readiness for an invasion of southern Lebanon.

However, some of the hardline members of the Israeli government have been pressing for action and on Monday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a longtime foe of Gallant, called for him to be sacked.

"We need a decision in the north and Gallant is not the right person to lead it," he said in a statement on the social media platform X.

Hundreds of Hezbollah fighters and dozens of Israeli soldiers and civilians have been killed in the exchanges of fire, which have left communities on both sides of the border as virtual ghost towns.

ICC to Track Down Perpetrators of ‘War Crimes’ in Libya