Libyan Rebels Offer Amnesty to Pro-Gadhafi Soldiers

MAY 28, 2011
By SAM DAGHER

BENGHAZI, Libya – The political leader of Libya's rebels offered amnesty on Saturday to those ready to abandon Col. Moammar Gadhafi and rejected all peace initiatives that were not predicated on the departure of the Libyan strongman, his family and senior regime figures.

"Those still betting on Moammar Gadhafi's regime should wake up to reality and abandon it and join the righteous and just cause," said Mustafa Abdel-Jalil head of the rebels' National Transitional Council reading from a prepared statement during a press conference.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil, a former judge and justice minister in Col. Gadhafi's regime who joined the rebel movement in its early days, explained that defectors guilty of crimes before the start of the uprising on Feb. 17 would be guaranteed "a fair trial."

He said those who committed crimes after this date would be forgiven if they left the regime now.

A senior Western diplomat stationed in Benghazi said on Friday that such an amnesty was crucial to encourage pro-Gadhafi troops and officers to stop fighting thereby hastening the regime's collapse.

Libyan rebel fighters stand next to a destroyed fighter plane belonging to forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi during a patrol at Misrata's airport.

Apart from high profile figures like the head of the National Oil Co. Shorkri Ghanem, who left Libya earlier this month and was believed to have defected, it has been more difficult to assess loyalty in the ranks of the military and security forces still fighting alongside Col. Gadhafi and their willingness to switch sides.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil also welcomed the shift in Moscow's position toward Libya and the rebels. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at the Group of Eight summit in Deauville, France on Friday that his country was ready to mediate an end to the Libyan crisis and for the first time called on Col. Gadhafi to leave power.

The Kremlin said on Saturday that its special envoy to the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Margelov has left for Benghazi but Mr. Abdel-Jalil said he did not know when the Russian official was expected to arrive telling reporters it would be sometime in the coming week.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil avoided mention of an African Union initiative to end hostilities in Libya but made sure he sent an unequivocal message to South African President Jacob Zuma, who was expected this weekend in the Libyan capital Tripoli this weekend.

"For the last time, we would like to stress that the goals of any initiative to resolve the crisis in Libya should be to get rid of the root cause of this crisis," he said referring to Col. Gadhafi.

—Greg White in Moscow contributed to this article.

Source: The Wall Street Journal.
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576351492261311076.html.