Did Qaddafi flee to Niger? Libyan convoy in Niger is reminder of Sahel's close ties.
鈥� The latest updates on Muammar Qaddafi and developments in Libya's war
Armored columns containing Libyan soldiers and top allies of former Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi, arriving in the West African country of Niger, set off speculation today that Mr. Qaddafi may be preparing to flee the country.
Wishful thinking, perhaps. Eyewitnesses at the border and in the Nigerien capital of Niamey say that Qaddafi himself had not been seen in the convoy, although 12 senior Libyan officials including Qaddafi鈥檚 own security chief, Mansour Dao, had been sighted, along with Niger鈥檚 ethnic Tuareg rebel leader Rissa ag Boula, who had come to fight in Qaddafi鈥檚 defense.
Niger may simply be a stopover for the convoy on the way to Burkina Faso, where President Blaise Compaore 鈥� a longtime Qaddafi supporter and prot茅g茅 鈥� has reportedly offered Qaddafi asylum.
But Qaddafi鈥檚 long-standing relationship with his neighbors in the African Sahel region 鈥� including Chad, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso 鈥� make it entirely plausible that Qaddafi might seek refuge there, if and when he makes the decision to flee.
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鈥淚 don鈥檛 have specific information about this convoy, but what is clear is that all the Sahelian countries had relationships with Libya and benefited from Libya, and if Burkina Faso has offered asylum, it鈥檚 likely that some of Qaddafi鈥檚 people are moving to Burkina Faso,鈥� says Thierry Vircoulon, a Sahel expert for the International Crisis Group鈥檚 office in Nairobi, Kenya.
Qaddafi鈥檚 ties with the arid nations south of the Saharan desert go deeper than mere financial support. They extend back several decades, when several of the present leaders of Sahelian countries were still rebel leaders, desperately seeking arms, logistical support, and training. Qaddafi provided these.
Burkina Faso鈥檚 President Blaise Campaore once trained in Libyan military training camps, before overthrowing the government of his predecessor Thomas Sankara in 1987. Chad鈥檚 President Idriss Deby once scraped together a ragtag force of fellow ethnic Zaghawa fighters, before overthrowing then-President Hissene Habre in a Qaddafi-supported insurgency.
But what the Brother Leader gives, he also takes away. Qaddafi has supported rebel attacks against several of his neighbors, including ethnic Tuareg fighters in Niger and Mali and ethnic Zaghawa fighters against Qaddafi鈥檚 own former prot茅g茅, President Deby.
As signatories of the treaty that created the International Criminal Court, both Burkina Faso and Niger would be legally obliged to hand over Qaddafi to the ICC鈥檚 prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who has issued an arrest warrant against Qaddafi for targeting civilians in the past six months. But Mr. Vircoulon, the Crisis Group expert, says that no Sahelian country is likely to do so.
鈥淎s you know, the whole of Africa will not arrest Qaddafi, even though they all signed the ICC treaty,鈥� says Vircoulon. 鈥淎s a whole, the Sahelian countries benefited from Qaddafi鈥檚 largesse. It鈥檚 not likely that he should carefully look at which countries are offering asylum, because they simply won鈥檛 cooperate with ICC.鈥�
Many members of the African Union 鈥� Africa鈥檚 largest regional bloc 鈥� say that African nations should resist cooperation with the ICC, arguing that the Hague-based criminal court targets African nations for human rights prosecution, but ignores human rights charges leveled against richer nations like the US, Britain, and France.
Kenya鈥檚 parliament voted earlier this year to urge the rescinding of the Hague court treaty. Sudan鈥檚 President Omar al-Bashir has managed to travel relatively freely in Africa and the Middle East, despite facing arrest warrants for genocide and war crimes charges allegedly committed in Sudan鈥檚 Darfur region.
In Washington, the US State Department urged Nigerien officials to .
"We have strongly urged the Nigerien officials to detain those members of the regime who may be subject to prosecution, to ensure that they confiscate any weapons that are found and to ensure that any state property of the government of Libya, money, jewels, etc., also be impounded so that it can be returned to the Libyan people," US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said, according to Reuters.
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