Libya TNC's Jibril Tells Press NATO Almost Done, Catching Gaddafi Is Key

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 23 -- When Mahmoud Jibril appeared for a UN press conference on Friday, it was the first since the Transitional National Council he heads was given Libya's seat at the UN. Inner City Press asked Jibril two questions, about NATO and the International Criminal Court.

Jibril had said that the south is liberated, Sirte will be in 48 hours and Bani Walid is under seige, "we are squeezing it." Inner City Press asked if that is true, when will NATO's protection of civilians mandate end?

"When the need [to protect civilians] is not there," Jibril answered, "I don't think there is a need for NATO... Once the whole Libyan territory is liberated." According to him, if Bani Walid falls after Sirte, that's it for NATO.

Inner City Press asked for Jibril's and the TNC's view on whether Gaddafi and the other ICC indictees should be sent to the Hague, if and when captured, or be tried in Libya. Jibril said, "the most important question is how to catch Gaddafi." After that, he said, it's up to "legal consultants" to consider "the supremacy of Libyan or international law" and "the national interest of the Libyan people." Video here, from Minute 18:04.

This deference to consultants differed from Jibril's answers to other questions, on which he said it will not be up to the TNC, but to "the Libyan people" -- which was also Ian Martin's response to Inner City Press about the ICC - click here and watch this site.

On Libya Frozen Assets, US Drops "TNC" for "Relevant Authorities," Only 13 of 15 Show Up for Syria Sanctions

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 25 -- After a standoff on whether $1.5 billion in frozen Libya funds would be released to the National Transitional Council, the US on Thursday agreed to amend its unfreezing request to drop references to the NTC (or TNC as the US and some others call it) and replaced it with the phrase "relevant authorities."

US officials including charge d'affaires Rosemary DiCarlo insisted that it makes no difference, that the money will now be released precises as the US requested it.

Ambassador Susan Rice issued a statement that did not mention the change, "welcom[ing] the decision by the UN Security Council's Libya Sanctions Committee to release $1.5 billion dollars in Libyan assets to meet the critical humanitarian needs of the Libyan people."

A representative of the chair of the Libya Sanctions Committee, when asked if any of the money could be given directly to the TNC, referred to this as a detail. Pressed on the issue, he gestured at charge DiCarlo.

South Africa had put a hold on the two thirds of the amount that were not labeled as "humanitarian," saying that the African Union had not yet ruled that the TNC is, well, the "relevant authority." But in response to the US amended request, South Africa removed its hold.

The press swirled around outside the Security Council, listening first to Rosemary DiCarlo and then South Africa's Baso Sangqu, both off camera. Sangqu took issue with some media coverage in the past 24 hours which described South Africa as "blocking aid." He pointed out that South Africa had gone out of its way, even during the dispute, to say that the $500 million in humanitarian aid could be released.

The US, then, insisted it must be a "package deal" -- the whole $1.5 billion, with references to the TNC. Now the number is the same, but the name is different.

In a parallel universe, when meetings were called on the Syria sanctions draft resolution, in the late morning at the experts level and at 3 pm at the level of Permanent Representatives, European representatives told Inner City Press that Russia and China did not attend either.

But, some wonder, is the point of the resolution's sponsors to get more than nine votes and call the question, triggering one or two vetoes? We'll see.