The UN Security Council yesterday embarked on an urgent debate over how to sanction Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for his deadly offensive on opposition protesters.
Ambassadors held formal negotiations on a sanctions resolution one day after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned them that a delay in taking “concrete action” would cost lives in the fractured north African nation.
Libya’s UN ambassador also made an impassioned plea for the council to take action against the “atrocities” committed by his childhood friend Gaddafi.
Western nations have proposed sanctions that include an arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze on Gaddafi, his family and top ministers and military officials.
But diplomats said China, Russia, South Africa, India and other nations have expressed concern about a proposal to refer the Libya crackdown to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a possible crimes against humanity investigation.
“There are various levels of concern and this is the main sticking point,” said a council diplomat, speaking on condition anonymity. Of course there are some nuances,” said French ambassador Gerard Araud, whose country with Britain played a key role in drafting the Libya resolution.
“But on the arms embargo no problem, on the sanctions no problem, the only question which is still on the table is the way we are going to reference to the ICC,” he told reporters.
Britain’s ambassador Mark Lyall Grant also said that the crimes against humanity reference had raised problems. “There are a number of outstanding issues that the ambassadors will need to tackle and clearly that is one of them,” he told reporters.
Lyall Grant said western powers had been “encouraged by the broad support that the resolution has attracted from other Security Council members.
“It is too soon to say how quickly we are going to be able to adopt it. Clearly we would like to be able to do so as soon as possible, even this afternoon.”
China and Russia have traditionally resisted sanctions resolutions that they consider to be unwarranted interference in a country’s internal affairs – or that could set a precedent for future international action. But reports of Gaddafi loyalists firing on demonstrators in Tripoli and emotional speeches made in a Security Council briefing last Friday have pressed the council to step up efforts to pass a resolution.
The UN leader said more than 1,000 people have already been killed in the Libyan bloodshed. Libya’s deputy UN envoy said earlier that thousands have been killed.
Ban told of reports that Libyan forces had gone into hospitals to kill wounded opponents, and soldiers were being shot dead because they had refused to fire on civilians. “It is time for the Security Council to consider concrete action,” he said.
“In these circumstances, the loss of time means more loss of lives.”
Libya’s UN ambassador, Abdurrahman Shalgham, a former foreign minister who has turned against the regime, pleaded with the Security Council to act against the “atrocities” by Gaddafi.