TRIPOLI: Muammar Qadhafi's government has hit back at an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes against the Libyan leader, charging the tribunal was just a tool of European powers.
On the ground, rebel fighters on Tuesday captured a large arms depot from pro-Qadhafi forces in the desert near their mountain enclave southwest of Tripoli in big boost to their resupply, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
Human rights bodies and the West, meanwhile, hailed the ICC's move on Monday that came on the 100th day of a Nato bombing campaign.
Libya rejected the warrants issued for Qadhafi, 69, his son Seif al-Islam, 39, and the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, 62, for atrocities committed in a bloody uprising that began mid-February.
The ruling is a “cover for Nato which is still trying to assassinate Qadhafi”, said Libya's justice minister, Mohammed al-Gamudi.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim said the ICC “functions as a European foreign policy vehicle.
“It is a political court which serves its European paymasters,” he said, adding: “Our own courts will deal with any human rights abuses and other crimes committed in the course of conflict in Libya.” In the latest fighting around the southwestern mountains, the rebels captured a network of bunkers in the desert around 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of the hilltown, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
The capture of large numbers of rockets, machine guns and other munitions was a major boost for rebel hopes of driving on Tripoli from the frontline on the other side of the Nafusa Mountains, which now lies just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital.
Hundreds of rebel fighters, accompanied by local civilians, combed through the warren of caches, some of which had been blown up in air strikes but others of which remained intact.
The rebel fighters overcame heavy multiple rocket fire from loyalist troops to seize their booty. Rebel commanders said they also ambushed a government convoy, destroying three vehicles.
Nato said warplanes under its command hit three tanks and six armoured personnel carriers in the Zintan area on Monday.
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo sought the warrants as thousands died in fighting and an estimated 650,000 people fled the country with Qadhafi clinging to power despite Nato strikes easing the siege of key rebel cities.
The White House hailed the ICC warrants, describing them as “another indication” that Qadhafi has lost all legitimacy.
Britain, another leading member of the UN-mandated effort to protect civilians against Qadhafi's forces, also welcomed the decision. “Individuals throughout the regime should abandon Qadhafi,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
The ICC said the three men were wanted for their roles in suppressing the revolt, in which civilians were murdered and persecuted by Libyan forces, particularly in Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata.
Gamudi noted that his country was not a signatory to the tribunal's founding Rome Statute, and “does not accept the jurisdiction of the court”.
But the head of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, told a news conference in the rebel capital of Benghazi that “justice has been done”.
In The Hague, rebel justice minister Mohammed Al-Allagy told reporters outside the ICC: “We are going to arrest them... We will decide afterwards where to prosecute them.” In his submission, Moreno-Ocampo said Qadhafi had a personal hand in planning and implementing “a policy of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians and demonstrators and dissidents in particular”.
“Qadhafi's plan expressly included the use of lethal force against demonstrators and dissidents,” the prosecutor contended.
The Libyan strongman ordered the shooting of civilians leaving mosques after evening prayers, said the submission, and his forces carried out a systematic campaign of arrest and detention of alleged dissidents.
Moreno-Ocampo's investigation follows a referral by the United Nations Security Council on the Libyan conflict on February 26.
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