“This is a legal issue,” prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s office said in a statement in The Hague, where ICC is based.
“Libya is not a state party to the (court’s founding treaty) Rome Statute but it is a member of the United Nations. Therefore, according to Resolution 1970, the Libyan government has an obligation to implement the arrest warrants,” the statement said.
“Any future government will have the same obligation,” it added.
On June 27, ICC judges issued arrest warrants for the Libyan leader, his son Seif Al Islam, 39, and Chief of Intelligence Abdullah Al Senussi, 62.
With a bombing campaign dragging on, Britain and France have indicated it was up to Libyans to decide whether Colonel Qaddafi stayed in the country, but it has been suggested he might stay on if he quits power.
For his part, Libyan Prime Minister said the departure of Gaddafi would not be discussed in any future talks on the crisis in the North African country.
"The departure from power of Colonel Gaddafi is not up for discussion", Baghdadi al-Mahmudi said after meeting UN special envoy to Libya Abdul Ilah al-Khatib earlier this week.
Source: AFP; Agencies; Photo: Reuters
