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Libya Offers Truce as ICC Prepares Arrest Warrants

   VOA News  May 16, 2011
   Rebel fighters stand at their positions on the south side of the
   rebel-held town of Zintan in Libya's Western Mountains, some 150 km
   southwest of the capital, Tripoli, May 12, 2011

Photo: Reuters

   Rebel fighters stand at their positions on the south side of the
   rebel-held town of Zintan in Libya's Western Mountains, some 150 km
   southwest of the capital, Tripoli, May 12, 2011

   Libya's prime minister has offered a truce in return for an immediate
   NATO cease-fire as the International Criminal Court prepares arrest
   warrants for three officials charges crimes against humanity.
   Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi called for the cease-fire in
   Tripoli Sunday after a meeting with U.N. special envoy Abdul Ilah
   Khatib. His request came as Libyan state television reported that a new
   NATO airstrike hit the western city of Zuwara, near the Tunisian
   border.
   Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court ,
   Luis Moreno-Ocampo, says he will file a 74-page document outlining
   allegations that Libyan forces have systematically attacked civilians
   since launching a brutal crackdown on anti-government rebels in
   February.
   Moreno-Ocampo is expected to ask Monday for three warrants, which
   reports say may be for Gadhafi and two of his sons. Judges will study
   the evidence presented before deciding whether to issue arrest warrants
   for the suspects, a process likely to take weeks.
   Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim dismissed the ICC's efforts,
   calling them "questionable."

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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