Unrest reported in Libya

[alexa]

Hmmm Seif would be safe in Harare, I don't see Mugabe turning him in.

oops, that one was about Dad and was in August.....

Oh, yeah I bet Gaddafi wishes he did go to Zimbabwe, I know Uganda offered to take him as well.

Zimbabwe is where they think he might be headed.


BBC News - Libya: Gaddafi son Saif al-Islam in contact with ICC

 

[High_Gravity]

oops, that one was about Dad and was in August.....

Oh, yeah I bet Gaddafi wishes he did go to Zimbabwe, I know Uganda offered to take him as well.

Zimbabwe is where they think he might be headed.


BBC News - Libya: Gaddafi son Saif al-Islam in contact with ICC

I would do it, I would do anything I could to avoid being handed over to the Libyans.

 

[alexa]

Oh, yeah I bet Gaddafi wishes he did go to Zimbabwe, I know Uganda offered to take him as well.

Zimbabwe is where they think he might be headed.


BBC News - Libya: Gaddafi son Saif al-Islam in contact with ICC

I would do it, I would do anything I could to avoid being handed over to the Libyans.

Yes, that certainly would make sense after what happened to his father. Even the ICC is a better deal.

 

[High_Gravity]

Libya: NATO Announces End Of Mission

BRUSSELS -- NATO has announced it will end its air campaign over Libya next Monday, following the decision of the U.N. Security Council to lift the no-fly zone and end military action to protect civilians.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday that the operation was "one of the most successful in NATO history," one which was able to wind down quickly following the death of former Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi.

Monitoring air patrols are expected to continue until Monday to make sure there are no more threats to civilians.

NATO's 26,000 sorties, including 9,600 strike missions, destroyed about 5,900 military targets since they started on March 31.

Libya: NATO Announces End Of Mission

 

[High_Gravity]

Libya’s Sexual Revolution

JANZOUR, Libya – When it comes to love, Muammar al-Qaddafi's Libya was unlucky for unmarried 33-year-old truck driver Ahmed Nori Faqiar. His looks would have benefited if his parents could ever have sprung for a dentist. Lack of means forced him to live unhappily at his childhood home well into adulthood. Marriage, a home of his own, kids -- all are dreams that the wiry Libyan had long ago steeled himself to stop hoping for.

"Before, I was not even daring to look at girls as wife material, because I knew I could not afford" to get married, say Faqiar now.

These days, though, Faqiar wears the mismatched camouflage of Libya's rebels and a dashing bandana on his head, pirate-style. He carries a gun. He is a veteran of battles for Libyans' freedom from Qaddafi's regime -- and it's the women who are talking to him.

"Girls around the area come up to you and say, ‘Thank you! You made us proud, you made us happy,'" Faqiar told me one night recently. He spoke on the sidelines of a camel and couscous feast that the people in this Tripoli suburb threw for several thousand young rebels, after slaughtering 10 camels.

From a specially raised dais, speakers praised the young rebel fighters late into the evening. Hundreds of excited young women and girls in head scarves mingled near rifle-toting young men, a novelty in this conservative country that was overwhelming to members of both genders in the crowd that night. "It's like a wedding!" Faqiar exclaimed, shaking his head in surprise.

Relations between Libyan men and women -- deeply distorted by the eccentric Libyan leader's refusal to provide normal opportunities for Libya's young people -- have changed "100 percent" in the days since Qaddafi fell, the young rebel said. His comrades listening around him voiced agreement.

"Thank God," Faqiar added.

Nearby, young women -- a group of cousins and neighbors, clustered together, in long skirts and shirts and head coverings -- said the same, and laughed about taking their pick of a husband from among the rebels when the war was done.

Libya

 

[alexa]

Oh, yeah I bet Gaddafi wishes he did go to Zimbabwe, I know Uganda offered to take him as well.

Zimbabwe is where they think he might be headed.


BBC News - Libya: Gaddafi son Saif al-Islam in contact with ICC

I would do it, I would do anything I could to avoid being handed over to the Libyans.

Well the ICC has confirmed now that they have been talking to him

The International Crimal Court (ICC) has confirmed that informal contact has been made with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the fugitive son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in order to arrest him and bring him to trial.

The ICC charged Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam and Abdullah al-Senussi, Libya's former intelligence chief, with crimes against humanity for the bombing and shooting of civilian protesters in February.

"If we reach agreement, logistical measures for his [Saif's] transfer will be taken," said Fadi El Abdallah, ICC spokesman, on Friday.

"It is not possible to discuss logistics or make presumptions about what is needed at this stage. There are different scenarios depending on what country he is in."

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Tripoli, said officials in Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) were "not happy" about the contact between Gaddafi's most prominent son and the ICC.

"They [the NTC] say he has to face trial here in Tripoli, not at the ICC. They insist Saif al-Islam be tried [by Libyans] without the intermediation of a third party," Ahelbarra said

-snip-

Helly questioned whether Saif was "desperately trying to save his life" or whether his offer to surrender was a way of buying time or bargaining to improve his situation..

ICC in talks with Gaddafi's fugitive son - Africa - Al Jazeera English

Still unsure which way he is going to go, Zimbabwe or the Hague, but one route he does not want to travel at this time is Libya!

 

[alexa]

(Reuters) - The International Criminal Court said on Saturday Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was in contact through intermediaries about surrendering for trial, but it also had information mercenaries were trying to spirit him to a friendly African nation.

The ICC has warned the 39-year-old, apparently anxious not to be captured by Libyan interim government forces in whose hands his father Muammar Gaddafi was killed last week, that it could order a mid-air interception if he tried to flee by plane from his Sahara desert hideout for a safe haven.

-snip-


DESERT FRIENDS

However, surrender is only one option. The Gaddafis made friends with desert tribes in Niger, Mali and other poor former French colonies in West Africa, as well as farther afield in countries like Zimbabwe and Sudan, some of them also recipients of largesse during the 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi, a self-styled African "king of kings."

-snip-

WARM WELCOME

Niger's government in the capital Niamey has vowed to meet its ICC commitments. But 750 km (400 miles) north in a region where cross-border allegiances among Tuareg nomads often outweigh national ties, the picture looks different.

For now, some of the tens of thousands of people who eke out a living in the deepest Sahara, an expanse roamed by smugglers and nomadic herders, say there would be a welcome for the younger Gaddafi.

"We are ready to hide him wherever needed," said Mouddour Barka, a resident of Agadez in northern Niger. "We are telling the international community to stay out of this business and our own authorities not to hand him over -- otherwise we are ready to go out on to the streets and they will have us to deal with."

Mohamed Anako, president of Agadez region, the size of France, said: "I am ready to welcome him in. For me his case is quite simply a humanitarian one.

"Libya and Niger are brother countries and cousins ... so we will welcome him in."

ICC warns Libya's Saif al-Islam against fleeing | Reuters

 

[alexa]

The NTC are getting well fed up at this idea of Saif giving himself up to the ICC. They want him tried in Libya. This article is suggesting with Nato leaving it will be extremely difficult for Libyans to find him, if he is indeed still in the area they say.

One thing I find weird. Time and again the NTC said they knew where the family were because of phones - you would think they would have had the sense/ability to hide their trail there!!

Also in the article

Meanwhile, at the scene of the initial February uprising, the courthouse on Benghazi's foreshore, a black flag identical to that used by al-Qaida was recently raised next to the new Libyan flag. It continued to fly on Saturday, despite the concerns of some residents.

Libya insists Saif al-Islam Gaddafi should be tried at home | World news | The Observer

 

[High_Gravity]

Abdul Rahim El-Keeb, New Libya Prime Minister, Balances Demands Of Rebels And West

TRIPOLI, Libya -- A U.S.-educated engineering professor with little political experience is Libya's new prime minister, a choice that suggests the country's interim rulers may be trying to find a government leader palatable both to the West and to Libyans who distrust anyone connected to the former regime.

Abdurrahim el-Keib was chosen late Monday by Libya's National Transitional Council, with 26 of 51 votes. He is to appoint within two weeks a new interim government that will pave the way for the drafting of a constitution, as well as general elections.

He replaces outgoing interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, who had pledged to step down after victory over Moammar Gadhafi's regime

Jibril was increasingly embattled in his last months in office, attacked by Libya's Islamists as too secular, and by others as a former Gadhafi regime adviser who spent most of the country's 8-month civil war outside Libya while revolutionary forces were fighting Gadhafi's troops on the battlefield.

Jibril has won credit, however, for his role in helping secure international support for the revolution from Western powers, such as France and Britain, who led the push to give the uprising the NATO air support that played a key role in Gadhafi's defeat.

The previous interim government was an impromptu group of activists and former regime officials who defected after the uprising against Gadhafi erupted in mid-February.

The NTC appointed an "Executive Office" that served as a de facto Cabinet. Even before the fall of the Gadhafi regime, the NTC said that after the end of the war, a more carefully selected government would oversee the upcoming eight-month transition period.

El-Keib, an NTC member from Tripoli, is free of some of Mahmoud Jibril's main liabilities. Unlike Jibril, who was an economic advisor under the former regime, el-Keib spent most of his professional career outside Libya and appears untainted by any ties to Gadhafi.

His background might make him more palatable to rebel commanders whose hatred for Gadhafi is far more visceral than those of most NTC members, who like el-Keib are disproportionately returned exiles and who tend to be lawyers and academics.

Mohammed al-Harizi, an NTC member from Tripoli, welcomed el-Keib selection, and said he, unlike Jibril, spent the war in Libya and "knows what is happening on the ground."

"He has been around long enough to know what needs to be improved, unlike Mahmoud Jibril who only comes to Libya as a visitor and never stays for long," al-Harizi said.

El-Keib could also appeal to the West, at a time when some of the gloss has come off of Libya's revolution due to reports of alleged human rights abuses by revolutionary militias and by the videotaped abuse of a captured Gadhafi before his death.

Pledges by NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil to Islamicize Libyan laws have also raised concerns in the West.

Abdul Rahim El-Keeb, New Libya Prime Minister, Balances Demands Of Rebels And West

 

[Ropey]

I can only hope that these tribes are able to work in a partnership that does not extend to dissolving it and killing each other in order to be the Muslim tribe that is Subservient to Allah whilst all other Muslim tribes (in Libya) are subservient to them.

That's their book. It follows.

Every 20 - 40 years? Lather, rinse and repeat.

 

[High_Gravity]

Western Companies See Prospects for Business in Libya

WASHINGTON — The guns in Libya have barely quieted, and NATO’s military assistance to the rebellion that toppled Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi will not end officially until Monday. But a new invasion force is already plotting its own landing on the shores of Tripoli.

Western security, construction and infrastructure companies that see profit-making opportunities receding in Iraq and Afghanistan have turned their sights on Libya, now free of four decades of dictatorship. Entrepreneurs are abuzz about the business potential of a country with huge needs and the oil to pay for them, plus the competitive advantage of Libyan gratitude toward the United States and its NATO partners.

A week before Colonel Qaddafi’s death on Oct. 20, a delegation from 80 French companies arrived in Tripoli to meet officials of the Transitional National Council, the interim government. Last week, the new British defense minister, Philip Hammond, urged British companies to “pack their suitcases” and head to Tripoli.

When Colonel Qaddafi’s body was still on public display, a British venture, Trango Special Projects, pitched its support services to companies looking to cash in. “Whilst speculation continues regarding Qaddafi’s killing,” Trango said on its Web site, “are you and your business ready to return to Libya?”

The company offered rooms at its Tripoli villa and transport “by our discreet mixed British and Libyan security team.” Its discretion does not come cheaply. The price for a 10-minute ride from the airport, for which the ordinary cab fare is about $5, is listed at 500 British pounds, or about $800.

“There is a gold rush of sorts taking place right now,” said David Hamod, president and chief executive officer of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce. “And the Europeans and Asians are way ahead of us. I’m getting calls daily from members of the business community in Libya. They say, ‘Come back, we don’t want the Americans to lose out.’ ”

Yet there is hesitancy on both sides, and so far the talk greatly exceeds the action. The Transitional National Council, hoping to avoid any echo of the rank corruption of the Qaddafi era, has said no long-term contracts will be signed until an elected government is in place. And with cities still bristling with arms and jobless young men, Libya does not offer anything like a safe business environment — hence the pitches from security providers.

Like France and Britain, the United States may benefit from the Libyan authorities’ appreciation of NATO’s critical air support for the revolution. Whatever the rigor of new rules governing contracts, Western companies hope to have some advantage over, say, China, which was offering to sell arms to Colonel Qaddafi as recently as July.

“Revenge may be too strong a word,” said Phil Dwyer, director of SCN Resources Group, a Virginia contracting company that opened an office in Tripoli two weeks ago to offer “risk management” advice and services to a company he would not name. “But my feeling is those who are in favor” with the transitional council “are going to get the nod from a business point of view.”

The Security Contracting Network, a job service run by Mr. Dwyer’s company, posted on its blog two days after Colonel Qaddafi’s death that there would be plenty of work opening up in Libya.

“There will be an uptick of activity as foreign oil companies scramble to get back to Libya,” the company said, along with a need for logistics and security personnel as the State Department and nonprofit organizations expand operations. “Keep an eye on who wins related contracts, follow the money, and find your next job,” the post advised.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/w...ripe-at-last-for-business.html?ref=middleeast

 

[High_Gravity]

Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General, Urges Libya To Secure Gaddafi's Weapons

TRIPOLI, Libya — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged Libya's new leaders to quickly secure chemical weapons, nuclear materials and shoulder-fired missiles, some of which have been left unguarded during the eight-month civil war that toppled the Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Ban said he was encouraged by a pledge from Libya's interim leader, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, to protect the weapons sites. But unsecured stockpiles of missiles and other munitions were still being discovered as recently as late last month, fueling concerns that weapons could fall into the wrong hands.

Abdul-Jalil said Libya wants the international community to release more of the billions of dollars in Libyan assets frozen during the war to get the job done. "We have many suggestions on how to locate and control these weapons," he told reporters at a joint news conference with Ban. "However, lack of funds prevents us from doing much at this time."

Earlier this week, Libyan officials said they found two undeclared chemical weapons sites, along with 7,000 drums of raw uranium. Libya under Gadhafi had pledged nearly a decade ago to stop pursuing non-conventional weapons.

Inspectors from the Organization for the Protection of Chemical Weapons were arriving in Libya on Wednesday.

During Libya's civil war, many military sites were left unguarded because of the conflict, exposing them to looting.

Earlier this week, the U.N. Security Council expressed concern about the weapons, including the fate of thousands of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles that pose a risk to civil aviation. An unknown number of missiles have disappeared and a senior Libyan border official has reported brisk weapons smuggling from Libya to Egypt.

The Security Council urged Libya to prevent such weapons from reaching terrorists and other armed groups. It also called on Libyan authorities to destroy chemical weapons stockpiles in coordination with international authorities.

Ban said he raised the weapons issue with Abdul-Jalil repeatedly, including on Wednesday. "It is very important that all these materials should be very carefully ... secured," Ban said.

The U.N. has said it is ready to help Libya in its transition to democracy, including police training, preparations for elections and the drafting of a constitution.

"We are here to help," Ban said, praising Libyans for their courage and determination in ousting Gadhafi.

The U.N. chief also reiterated his concern about the bloodshed in Syria, where President Bashar Assad has overseen a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General, Urges Libya To Secure Gaddafi's Weapons

 

[High_Gravity]

Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi Whereabouts Remain Mystery

JOHANNESBURG — A fugitive wanted by the International Criminal Court, Moammar Gadhafi's one-time heir apparent appears to have disappeared in the Sahara Desert's ocean of dunes and could remain hidden for months in an area more than twice the size of Texas.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi may be plotting a counterrevolution, scheming about a getaway to a friendly country, or negotiating a surrender to the ICC. Nothing has been heard of him since sources on Oct. 28 said Tuareg nomads were escorting him the length of Libya and that he was close to the Mali border.

"My latest information is that they are not in Mali and they are not in Niger yet either," Malian legislator Ibrahim Ag Mohamed Assaleh said this week, adding to the mystery of his whereabouts.

Gadhafi, a 39-year-old British-educated engineer, could be deliberately feeding disinformation from a desert where national boundaries are unmarked and unpoliced and where smugglers and al-Qaida gunmen roam freely.

Analyst Adam Thiam, a columnist for Le Republicain newspaper in Mali, said life in the desert for long periods outside of isolated oases is nearly impossible, but that a zone in Mali has water, livestock and small game. However the area is used by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, an extremist group which has "no love of the Gadhafi family," Thiam said. Gadhafi violently repressed Libya's own Islamist movement and was a longtime enemy of al-Qaida.

Gadhafi and his late father's former chief of military intelligence, Abdullah al-Senoussi, have reportedly been traveling in separate convoys escorted by Tuaregs, the hardy nomads who understand best how to survive in the desert. Loyalty to the ethnic group trumps nationality, and the Tuareg's traditional stomping grounds stretch across North Africa, from Morocco and Algeria to Libya and southwest to Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad.

Gadhafi and al-Senoussi are both wanted by the ICC for allegedly organizing and ordering attacks in Libya that killed civilians during the revolt against Moammar Gadhafi.

More than a dozen countries in Africa don't recognize the international court, but even some that do ignore its arrest warrants amid criticism that the Hague-based court goes after a disproportionate number of Africans. Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, wanted for genocide and war crimes committed in Darfur, attended a conference in Malawi last month with no problem, though Malawi is a member of the ICC.

In the area where Gadhafi is believed hiding, only Algeria is not a signatory. Algeria was a staunch supporter of Moammar Gadhafi and has given refuge to his wife, a daughter and two other sons, but now is trying to establish ties with Libya's new leaders.

Gadhafi is "more problematic than the rest of the family for Algeria," said Libya's ambassador to South Africa, Abdalla Alzubedi.

He said he has no independent information about Gadhafi but said he does believe media reports that his convoy is carrying gold, diamonds and cash – which could be his passport to freedom.

"I don't doubt that they have a lot of money," Alzubedi said. "They treated Libya like a private estate and their private bank. They could take any amount of money, any amount of gold."

South Africa's Beeld newspaper has quoted local mercenaries as saying a group of guns for hire is protecting Gadhafi. ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said South African mercenaries may be trying to spirit Gadhafi away to Zimbabwe, which does not recognize the international court.

Some fear Gadhafi could rally Tuareg fighters, newly and heavily rearmed while they fought to defend his father's regime, to stage an insurgency. Thiam said up to 500 Tuaregs in 130 vehicles had fled Libya to northern Mali after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year-old regime. Hundreds of other Tuareg fighters have gone home to Chad and Niger.

Many Tuaregs are furious about how Gadhafi was captured and killed. Mosques in Tuareg towns across the Sahel dedicated last Friday's prayers to the memory of the slain Libyan leader, who used some of Libya's oil wealth to build mosques and religious schools across the region and who glorified the tribes' nomadic lifestyle.

A Western diplomat said Wednesday that he has information suggesting al-Senoussi crossed into northern Mali this week, though he cautioned that "a man like this could create false leads for people to follow." A Tuareg source said al-Senoussi was in northwest Mali on Monday.

On Oct. 28, a Tuareg leader said Gadhafi was nearing the Mali border and could cross into the country that night. These sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi Whereabouts Remain Mystery

 

[Conservative]

But doe he have nukes?

 

[High_Gravity]

But doe he have nukes?

According to Little Red yes.

 

[idb]

But doe he have nukes?

According to Little Red yes.

This reminds me of the end of "Blazing Saddles" when the big fight scene spills over from that movie and into other sets.

 

[High_Gravity]

But doe he have nukes?

According to Little Red yes.

This reminds me of the end of "Blazing Saddles" when the big fight scene spills over from that movie and into other sets.

Well it wasn't a "fight" exactly, little red was getting his ass beat like a red headed step child up and down that thread.

 

[High_Gravity]

Libya: Disarming Rebels Will Take Months, Prime Minister El-Keib Says

TRIPOLI, Libya — Disarming former Libyan rebels could take months and weapons will not be taken by force, Libya's new prime minister said in an interview broadcast Friday, signaling a shift from previous pledges of quick action.

Abdurrahim el-Keib also acknowledged that the National Transitional Council, which is to lead Libya to its first free election within eight months, has not yet established full control over the country, but said it is making progress. The NTC declared Libya liberated on Oct. 23, three days after the capture and killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The proliferation of armed ex-rebel militias in Libya and the NTC's still shaky grip have raised concerns about growing instability during the transition period, which is to end with the election of a national assembly by June.

Thousands of civilians across Libya took up arms during the eight-month war that brought down Gadhafi. Some have returned to their pre-war lives, but others have remained in their fighting units, manning checkpoints and patrolling streets. In recent weeks, there have been reports of fighters using weapons to settle personal scores.

El-Keib, who will run the interim government for the next eight months, told France24 TV on Friday that collecting those weapons "is going to take some time."

"We will not force people to take quick and hasty decisions and actions and come up with some laws that just prevent people from holding arms," he said. Instead, the government will try to work with the fighters, by offering alternatives, including training and jobs, he said.

"Hopefully, before the eight months end, we will be able to have those armed freedom fighters lay down their arms and go back to their business," he added.

The NTC is to adopt a "transitional justice" law in coming days to help it deal with some of the problems of the interim period, including vigilante justice carried out by fighters against former supporters of the Gadhafi regime.

"Most of the violations are taking place because we don't have laws to carry out justice," said Jalal el-Gallal, an NTC spokesman. "That's why we need it (the law) as soon as possible."

According to a draft of the law, an independent fact-finding commission would be set up to hear complaints by victims of injustice, both under Gadhafi and in the transitional period. The commission would investigate the claims and make recommendations, including possible compensation or referral to the courts.

The head of the NTC, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said earlier this week that Libya's interim leaders also need quick access to billions of dollars in Gadhafi regime assets, frozen by a number of countries since the start of the war, to be able to disarm fighters and secure weapons.

Citing lack of funds, Abdul-Jalil said his government can't do much in the interim period to secure weapons sites and munitions depots that were left unguarded and exposed to looting during the war. Libyan border officials have reported heavy weapons smuggling into Egypt, and Israel has said some of those arms have reached the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Earlier this week, Libyan officials said they discovered chemical weapons that had previously not been declared by the Gadhafi regime when it pledged to abandon the pursuit of non-conventional weapons.

In the Netherlands, the organization that oversees the global ban on chemical weapons said it will work with Libyan authorities to verify and destroy chemical weapons. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it was told earlier this week of suspected chemical weapons caches beyond the stockpiles declared earlier by Gadhafi.

The organization said Friday that none of Gadhafi's known chemical arsenal was plundered during the civil war. Libya declared in 2004 it had tons of sulfur mustard and other chemicals used to make chemical weapons.

New details emerged Friday about the toll of the fighting in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte last month.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said more than 400 bodies have been found in Sirte in the past two weeks. Gadhafi died in unclear circumstances Oct. 20 after being captured by ex-rebel forces in Sirte.

Libya: Disarming Rebels Will Take Months, Prime Minister El-Keib Says

 

[High_Gravity]

Libya: Missing Weapons Unsecured, UN Envoy Says

TRIPOLI, Libya — Some weapons depots in Libya have still not been secured properly, and "much has already gone missing" from unguarded sites, the top U.N. envoy in Libya said in an interview Sunday.

Preventing more weapons from being smuggled out of country will be difficult, considering the nature of the vast desert nation's borders, the envoy, Ian Martin, told The Associated Press.

"That has to be a priority now, to secure what still remains in Libya," he said. "Over time, the international community can assist Libya and its neighbors with that, but I am afraid there is not a quick and easy solution to that problem."

During the chaos of Libya's 8-month civil war, human rights groups and reporters came across a number of weapons depots that were left unguarded and were looted after Moammar Gadhafi's fighters fled.

Martin said the unsecured weapons remain a "very, very serious cause for concern." He said they include shoulder-held missiles, mines and ammunition.

"It's clear that much has already gone missing from unsecured locations and that there are still locations which have not been properly secured," he said.

Martin noted progress concerning chemical weapons and nuclear material. Last week, Libyan officials said they discovered two new sites with chemical weapons that had not been declared by the Gadhafi regime when it vowed several years ago to stop pursuing non-conventional weapons. Officials also said they found about 7,000 drums of raw uranium.

"That, too, has been secured," Martin said of the latest discoveries, noting that the main issue is now how to dispose of them.

The Gadhafi regime fell with the capture and killing of the dictator on Oct. 20, followed by a declaration of liberation by Libya's new leadership three days later.

The U.N. mission headed by Martin is designed to help Libya's interim leaders with the transition to democracy.

By late June, Libyans are scheduled to elect a national assembly that would oversee the drafting of a constitution, followed by parliamentary and presidential elections.

The National Transitional Council last week chose a new prime minister, who is to form a government by mid-month for the transition period.

The prime minister, Abdurrahim el-Keib, said in a televised speech marking the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha that Libya must quickly form new security forces. He added that "the presence of weapons in this random manner really concerns us."

El-Keib also said national reconciliation is a priority. This would include compensating those who were hurt in the fighting and punishing the guilty, he said.

Some Libyan officials have called for a faster transition, warning of a dangerous power vacuum.

Martin said accelerating the elections timetable "is going to be quite difficult, but depends first and foremost on the speed with which they (Libya's interim leaders) can reach the political decisions, and we can't determine that."

Fundamental decisions, including on the preferred electoral system, have not yet been made, he said.

The NTC has acknowledged that it has not established full control over the country. Suspected Gadhafi loyalists are being held in detention centers controlled by semiautonomous armed militias, instead of the NTC. Human rights groups have reported mistreatment of detainees in such lockups.

Martin said the interim authorities have tried to tackle the problem, "but they need to do more, faster, even before a new government is in place."

Libya: Missing Weapons Unsecured, UN Envoy Says

 

[High_Gravity]

Niger Military Clashes With Libya Convoy

NIAMEY, Niger — Niger's army intercepted a convoy of cars traveling south from Libya toward Mali, and a cache of arms was seized in the ensuing clash, the ministry of defense said Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear if the fighters were part of Moammar Gadhafi's fleeing entourage, but the direction in which the heavily armed convoy was traveling is the same route that was used last month by Gadhafi's intelligence chief, who is believed to be hiding in the remote dunes of Mali.

The statement by Defense Minister Mahamadou Karidio published in local newspapers on Wednesday said that one Nigerien soldier was killed and four wounded during the clash on Sunday.

The army seized two 14.5 mm, and four 12.7 mm machine guns, two ML-49 and three M-80 machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and ammunition, the statement said. The army also found a Thuraya satellite phone and seized six Toyota pickup trucks, as well as several prisoners.

Security experts have warned that arms traffickers could try to pilfer the armories left behind by Gadhafi's retreating army and transport them across the ungoverned desert separating Libya from Niger and Mali. The corridor has been used by arms smugglers and drug traffickers for decades, and is also where an al-Qaida-linked cell operates. Military experts are especially worried about Gadhafi's stockpile of surface-to-air missiles, many of which have an infrared homing device which would allow a fighter to simply aim it in the general direction of a passing plane to take it down.

Earlier this summer, the Niger military clashed with another convoy in the same region, this one loaded with explosives. One of the men driving the convoy told authorities during his subsequent interrogation that they were bringing the explosives from Libya, and were on their way to sell it to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, Karidio told the Associated Press in an interview in September.

Serge Hilpron, the head of Radio Nomad, a radio station that broadcast in the country's north where the incident took place, said that his sources indicated that there were both Libyan nationals and ethnic Tuaregs in the convoy.

Niger Military Clashes With Libya Convoy