Gaddafi forces pound Misurata lifeline port

Muammar Gaddafi’s forces pounded the lifeline port of Misurata with deadly fire yesterday, as the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said “thousands” had died since a rebellion against the Libyan strongman broke out in February.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the murder and persecution of civilians was still being carried out by Colonel Gaddafi’s regime and that he will seek arrest warrants for three people, whom he did not name.

In besieged Misurata, a rebel spokesman said at least five people were killed as loyalists shelled the city’s port, from which the International Organisation of Migration said a ship managed to evacuate about 800 people, including stranded migrants and wounded.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo told the United Nations Security Council in New York that the Libyan government had started preparing to counter protests weeks before they started on February 15 – warned by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

“As early as January, mercenaries were being hired and brought into Libya,” he said.

“Widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population have been and continue to be committed in Libya, including murder and persecution as crimes against humanity,” Mr Moreno-Ocampo said.

Saying he had witnesses, videos and photos to back his case, he promised to request “arrest warrants against three individuals who appear to bear the greatest criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity” in Libya.

Diplomats have said Col Gaddafi is likely to be on the first list of warrants, but Mr Moreno-Ocampo did not name anyone.

The ICC prosecutor said he was also investigating the deaths of dozens of sub-Saharan Africans in the rebel bastion of Benghazi by an “angry mob” who believed they were mercenaries in the pay of Col Gaddafi.

Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said in Tripoli that around 400 fighters had turned in their arms in Misurata, the rebel’s last major bastion in western Libya that has been under siege for almost two months.

His comments, linked to a possible offer to extend an amnesty to rebesls, could not be verified.

“I hope that the minister of justice will listen to our call to extend it at least for another day or two, because there are good signs among people there in Misurata,” Mr Kaim said.