World leaders issued calls for Muammer Gaddafi to leave office as the sanctions drive against Libya intensifies.
Amid continued fighting near Tripoli and elsewhere in the country, Angela Merkel, German chancellor, said it was “high time” for Colonel Gaddafi to depart and hailed new UN Security Council sanctions as a sign of international resolve.
The European Union is on Monday expected to approve its own measures, which would take effect midweek.
Barack Obama the US president, informed Ms Merkel in a telephone call, of Washington’s view that Col Gaddafi should go. Both David Cameron, British prime minister, and Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, were expected to address the topic later on Sunday.
“When a leader’s only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against his own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now,” said Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, who flew to Geneva on Sunday to help co-ordinate the international response.
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John McCain, the former Republican presidential nominee, called for Washington to do more, including setting up a no-fly zone in Libya and recognising a provisional government in the east of the country.
He added that Col Gaddafi’s days were numbered. “The question is: how many people are going to be massacred between now and when he leaves? We ought to shorten that time frame as much as possible.”
Many western officials argue a no–fly zone would be of limited help, as Col Gaddafi is largely relying on ground forces and rebels control some air bases.
Instead, the US and its allies are seeking to encourage defections from Col Gaddafi’s ranks with the threat of war crimes trials. Ms Merkel hailed the Security Council’s unanimous vote for a resolution that could put Muammer Gaddafi and his family in the dock as “a clear signal to Gaddafi and other despots that human rights violations won’t go unpunished”.
After 11 hours of negotiations on Saturday the Council referred the crisis in Libya to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The vote set up an arms embargo and ordered UN member states to freeze the assets of the Libyan leader, his daughter and four of his sons. They and another 10 members of the regime were banned from travelling outside the country.
US unilateral sanctions authorised earlier by Mr Obama imposed wider asset freezes, encompassing not only Col Gaddafi, his family and senior government officials but also individuals deemed to be involved in human rights abuses.
“If you engage in the kind of brutal repression that we’ve seen in Libya in the last several days the US at least will do everything in its power to find your assets and block them,” said Stuart Levey, US Treasury undersecretary.
The US sanctions also freeze assets of the Libyan government and the country’s sovereign wealth fund either held in the US or by US financial institutions. Washington says this is to stop such assets, which could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, being “looted” by the regime.
Like the US, the EU is looking to go beyond the UN asset freezes but officials said specifics were still being negotiated. The EU’s efforts have been delayed by Italy, Cyprus and Greece, which still have large numbers of foreign nationals inside Libya.
The US and several European countries have shut down embassies in Libya and evacuated nationals, in one instance by means of a desert rescue by UK special forces and the Royal Air Force.
According to EU estimates, there are still about 2,200 European citizens in the country, though a small percentage are dual nationals unlikely to leave.
Lady Ashton, EU foreign policy chief, spoke to senior Italian diplomats and officials and said Italy, which traditionally has close ties with Libya, was expected to back the package on Monday.
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