[D66] Human rights groups charge NATO with war crimes in Libya

[Antid Oto]

Human rights groups charge NATO with war crimes in Libya
By Bill Van Auken
21 January 2012

There is strong evidence that NATO carried out war crimes in its eight-month war
for regime-change in Libya, according to a report released Thursday by Middle
East human rights groups.

The United Nations resolution authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect
civilians was utilized as the justification for military actions against
civilian targets in which many Libyans were killed and wounded, according to the
groups’ investigation.

The report is based upon a fact-finding mission to Libya conducted by the Arab
Organization for Human Rights, together with the Palestinian Center for Human
Rights and the International Legal Assistance Consortium. The investigators
conducted extensive interviews with victims of war crimes as well as witnesses
and Libyan officials. The mission carried out on-site field investigations in
and around Tripoli, Zawiya, Sibrata, Khoms, Zliten, Misrata, Tawergha and Sirte.

While the investigation concluded that the government of Col. Muammar Gaddafi
used excessive force against protesters, the report also states: “There does not
appear to have been a clear demarcation between peaceful protests and armed
opposition, and the Mission received credible information indicating that
protestors took up arms in the early stages of the revolution.”

In terms of NATO’s role, the report cites evidence that in addition to NATO air
strikes, the US-led alliance deployed troops on the ground, which coordinated
the offensive of the so-called “rebels” with the bombing campaign.

“NATO participated in what could be classified as offensive actions undertaken
by the opposition forces, including, for example, attacks on towns and cities
held by Gaddafi forces,” the report states. “Equally, the choice of certain
targets, such as a regional food warehouse, raises prima facie questions
regarding the role of such attacks with respect to the protection of civilians.”

Among civilian sites visited by the mission that had been struck by NATO bombs
and missiles were schools and colleges, a Zliten regional food warehouse, the
Office of the Administrative Controller in Tripoli, and private homes.

The mission found its strongest evidence of war crimes in the coastal city of
Sirte, a center of support for Gaddafi, which was the last major area to fall to
the NATO-backed forces.

It cites a September 15, 2011 incident in which NATO warplanes struck two jeeps
guarding a coastal road, killing or wounding 10 pro-Gaddafi fighters. When
residents of the area came out of their homes to help the wounded and retrieve
the bodies of the dead, the NATO warplanes struck again, firing a third missile
into the crowd. Approximately 50 civilians were killed in the attack.

The report also detailed war crimes by the NATO-backed “rebels.” In addition to
summary executions of alleged pro-Gaddafi fighters, witnesses provided reports
of “indiscriminate and retaliatory murders, including the ‘slaughter’ (i.e.,
throat slitting) of former combatants.”

The mission reported on visits to detention centers holding individuals charged
in many cases with nothing more than having supported the Gaddafi regime. At one
of them, in Zawiya, visibly “panicked” and “desperate” detainees “recounted
receiving frequent beatings by guards, and showed bruises and other marks
consistent with prolonged and recent abuse. These bruises and marks typically
appeared on the torso and upper thigh area of the detainees, and consequently
were hidden from casual observation by clothing. Beatings were reportedly
carried out using fists and electric and plastic cables. Detainees also reported
2 recent deaths in custody.”

The report focuses, in particular, on the treatment of black African immigrant
workers and black Libyans, who have been indiscriminately rounded up and charged
as “mercenaries.” People “with dark skin are being detained as presumed
mercenaries. In such instances, there appears to be a presumption of guilt. The
alleged mercenaries interviewed by the Mission in detention claimed to have been
migrant workers, some of whom had been resident in Libya for over five years
prior to the revolution,” the report states.

Emblematic of this racially fueled repression is the fate of Tawergha, a town
which formerly had a population of about 30,000. Approximately 38 miles east of
Misrata, Tawergha was a former slave-trading post settled by freed slaves, and
consequently the majority of its inhabitants were black.

Branded as Gaddafi loyalists, the entire population of Tawergha was driven out
through a terror campaign by Misrata-based “rebels,” leaving behind a ghost
town. The mission’s investigators found damaged homes littered with personal
belongings of residents who apparently “left in extreme haste,” and reported
that while they were there in November, arsonists were burning down many of the
abandoned residences.

The report quotes a senior Libyan military commander who “confirmed that a
number of other ‘loyalist’ villages throughout Libya had met a similar fate.”

“We have reason to think that there were some war crimes perpetrated” by NATO,
Raji Sourani, the head of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights told the
British Independent newspaper. The mission’s report noted that the effort to
determine the scale of these crimes was hindered by the “apparent desire” among
the anti-Gaddafi elements who have taken control “to protect NATO, or avoid any
direct or indirect criticism.”

The report concludes that the evidence of war crimes in the military
intervention for regime-change in Libya necessitates “effective investigation,
including, where appropriate, the prosecution of those responsible.”

In November of last year, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal
Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, stated that “there are allegations of crimes
committed by NATO forces (and) these allegations will be examined impartially
and independently.”

While the ICC last week granted Libya’s National Transitional Council a two-week
extension on its deadline to provide the international court with a report on
the conditions under which the murdered Libyan leader’s son, Saif al-Islam, is
being held and whether he will be turned over to the international court,
Moreno-Campo has given no further indication that the ICC is pursuing charges
related to NATO’s war crimes or the lynching of Gaddafi.

http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/liby-j21.shtml